Reimu's Loneliness
by NazoDi
Summary: When an eerie darkness fills the world of Gensokyo, Reimu Hakurei sets out towards the Scarlet Devil Mansion from which the dark clouds spilled from high above, fighting the other ladies of Gensokyo that have become possessed by a mysterious force along the way. Mild Language, Violence.
1. Chapter 1 The Lonesome Darkness

_**Rated**** T for Mild Language. Violence.**_

_Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners._

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"No Marisa, don't Master Spark the cat… It was your fault it scratched you…" I mumbled in my half-asleep state.

As my consciousness slowly came back to me I rolled onto my other side. I clinged to my blanket, not yet ready to relinquish it even as my time to sleep came to an end. It was quite a bother. I wanted to sleep for just a little longer, especially when I had yet to feel the sun's warmth hitting me through the windows. I was hoping it was still night time, but I was already sure that it was just a cloudy morning.

_Really don't feel like getting up. _I rolled onto my back and slowly opened my eyes. My room was lit by the dull light from outside, so it was definitely morning. _If it's too early then I'm going right back to sleep._

With a sigh I threw my blanket off to the side then sat up. I got to my feet then made my way to the door, stretching my arms high above me as I let out a big yawn. _Aww yeah, that felt great! _I felt my shoulders crack a little. I really need to stop falling asleep on the floor or I'm always going to wake up with aches all over my body. My futon was even out and ready in the other room, waiting for me to crawl into it. I guess I was just that tired last night.

I slid the door open and was greeted by a gust of wind that nearly blew me off my feet. "Well that's ominous." I commented.

I looked at my lonely donation box. I thought about checking inside, but why get my hopes up? I moved my focus out into the yard, not liking what I saw one bit.

"Oh come on…" I moaned irritably. The stone path was once again buried under the autumn leaves. "And I had just raked them all up yesterday too." I said. The trees really need to shed their leaves all at once in a single day.

I took notice of the oddly dismal mood the trees around me were giving off, but I dismissed it thinking it was just one of those gloomy mornings. Summer is ending after all and autumn is making its way into Gensokyo with no signs of stopping. _Bleak is too soft of a word to describe you, trees._

I didn't feel like going outside to rake so I slid the door closed and walked back over to my little table. I plopped right down in front of it and then fell forward, my head hitting the top of the table with a light thud. I grunted then lifted my head up. I rubbed my slightly sore forehead then sighed boredly.

"I really don't feel like doing anything today…" I say to myself.

With no plan what so ever for the day, I decided to just hang around inside. It wasn't like there was anything for me to do outside anyways. Well besides taking care of those pesky leaves, of course. I'm sure I could get someone else to do them for me.

I stretched out on my side across the floor, resting my head on my arm. _Who could I get to do those darn leaves for me?_

"Yeah~! Party ti~me!" I hear a familiar shout from outside. _And we got ourselves a volunteer._

The voice was a bit muffled, but it obviously belonged to that trouble-making oni, Suika Ibuki. This was a good time for her to show up so I wasn't mad at all. I can get her to rake those leaves for me and save me from the bothersome task. I'll ask her nicely first and if she refuses, I'll beat her over the head a few times with my gohei. That tends to work a lot of times.

I got back up onto my feet and headed for the front door again. I put my fingers into the groove of the door and went to push the door open, but I was stopped by a sudden crash from the other side of the door. _What in the…! _I quickly slid the door open. I was so angry to find what the crashing sound was.

I gritted my teeth as my temper started to boil. "Suika~!" I yelled fiercely.

Where my donation box once innocently sat was now replaced with a giant rock. It of course had been thrown by someone and I didn't need to think twice about who it was. Pieces of what used to be my donation box was scattered around the impact site. _Someone short is gonna die._

I stormed down the wooden steps and past the rock that had slain my donation box, stopping several feet out in front of my shrine. I looked around for the little pest. "Suika! Suika, I know you're out there now come out!" I shouted for her. Even with the gloomy wind blowing into my ear, I could hear Suika snickering back around my shrine. I turned right around and headed for the oni.

I fast walked to the back of my shrine and as expected I found Suika frolicking around in the back yard. _She's drunk. No surprise there._ I tried strangling her with my eyes as I stared at her back. "Hey! Suika!" I called out to her as I stomped my way towards her. I was furious and I was going to show her just how furious. "You can apologize to me for breaking my donation box later after I beat you to a pulp."

To my annoyance she wasn't listening to me, just snickering and I think maybe even talking to herself. I thought maybe she didn't hear me, but I was sure I was loud enough to even drown out the noisy wind. _She even has the guts to ignore me like that. Stupid oni._

"Hey, you drunk, I'm talking to you!" I yelled again as I approached Suika.

_What the…_

I stopped walking and stared in curious bewilderment when I noticed something weird about Suika. She was aimlessly walking around in drunken stupor like she always does when she tries to walk after guzzling down on her gourd for an hour, but what was weird was that she appeared to be covered in an eerie darkness that clinged to her form. The clothes she wore were drained of their color, leaving them dull and dark. Her hair was also missing its ginger glow. Even more strange was when I tried to focus my sight on her, my eyes would start to hurt and I would feel a headache developing. I was forced to glance away periodically instead of staring directly at her.

I jumped in surprise when she stomped her foot into the ground, causing a small tremor.

"Here~ will be~ where we~ shall host the GREATEST festiva~l Gensoky~o~ has EVER! SEE~N!" Suika spoke oddly, going from speaking normally, to drawing out random syllables of words to suddenly screaming. She would hang some of her words and pause in between her sentences randomly. Her voice was creepily distorted also and had an echo to it that actually hurt my ears a little. She walked around, seemingly oblivious to my presence. Something was definitely not right with her.

A little reluctant, I took a step towards her. "Hey, Suika… You okay?" I ask her politely. I jumped again in surprise when she abruptly swung around to face me. My eyes widened in shock from the site. "Oh… dear…" A few words escaped from me.

Pure blackness made up Suika's eyes, which she used to stare directly into me. Her skin was pale and dark. Not very healthy looking. _What in the world?_

Suika grinned inhumanly. "Oh! It's you, Reimu~!" She began to approach me in a hostile manner, stomping her feet needlessly into the ground every time she took a step. I stood on guard, not knowing what to expect to happen. Her grin enlarged, freaking me right the hell out. "Oh, Reimu~! Why you looking at me like that? You shouldn't wear such a face when the greatest party ever is to be thrown ri~ght here~ at your very own SHRI~NE!" She spoke, again in that distorted way. Her shouting made my body tremble.

I slowly backed away as she drew closer to me. I faked a smile. "Hey, Suika. Keep it down a little, please. It's still early in the morning you know." I say as calmly as I could given the situation.

Suika continued stomping her feet towards me. _She's ruining the yard!_ "Oh~, that's oka~y, Reimu~. We are supposed to be LOUD when having a PARTY!" She said. She spoke words of cheer, but she seemed angry whenever she would scream. I'm totally confused.

I fake a laugh. "But, Suika. There is no party going on here today. And why would you want to throw one on such a dreary day like this anyways?" I ask her.

I had to move my legs a little faster when she suddenly increased her walking speed towards me. _Don't do it, Suika._

"REIMU~!" She screamed and again increased her walking speed towards me. Her eyes were latched onto me, never looking anywhere else. What the hell was wrong with her? "REIMU~! You forget, REIMU~, that every DAY is a DAY to celeBRATE and PARTY~!" She shook my vision with her thundering shouts.

That was when she suddenly jumped towards me with her hand stretched out and aiming for my neck. I wasn't quick enough and she got a hold of my neck. She pulled me down to her eye level, staring murderously into my eyes as she squeezed my neck.

_She's seriously trying to break my neck!_ With my face already blue from the lack of oxygen, I grabbed her by the arm with both of my hands and shocked her with some of my spiritual power, sending out a blue streak of lightning down her arm. The sparks of lightning were on its way to smacking her square in the face, but the darkness that shrouded her blocked it before it could do any damage. _Eh? What the hell?_

"You look a little parched, Reimu~. How about a DRINK?!" Suika spoke.

While still strangling me with her right hand, she took her left hand and held it back behind her and formed it into a fist. _I have to act fast!_ I formed a small blue barrier in front of my face right before her fist would have hit me. As expected for an oni, she easily shattered through the hastily formed barrier. I didn't expect to block her punch, only to weaken the impact it would have on my face. Her fist connected with my nose, forcing a pain-filled grunt from me. She broke my nose, sending a stream of blood running down out of it. My eyes watered up badly, obscuring the short oni from my vision.

_Ow, this really hurts._ I was already angry before because of what happened to my donation box, but now I was beyond furious. I was not about to let her hit me like that again.

I threw my arms out to the sides, sending out a line of red amulets from out of my sleeves. My amulets flew out a short distance before curving back towards their target. Suika seemed oblivious to my incoming attack, still staring into my eyes with those black orbs. I guessed that whatever it is that is wrong with her, she couldn't sense attacks anymore. At least I hoped that was the case.

My amulets aimed directly towards the sides of Suika's ribs. As I expected, that weird darkness around her moved to block the amulets. Some of the amulets turned to ash as they crashed into the darkness, but some were able to punch through. My amulets struck her in the side, hurting her enough to force her to release me. I leaped backwards twice to create some distance between us then began coughing and gasping for air. I know better than to try and fight an oni up close. _Jeez, my face hurts._ I hovered my hand over my nose and used some of my power to heal it. I felt my left cheek bone move as I healed my nose. I guess her punch broke more than just my nose.

Suika quickly recovered and had leaped into the air. She aimed to stomp on me, but I was able to easily jump out of the way and take off into the air. The force of her stomp punched an indent into the ground and launched chunks of earth flying into the air.

"Ah, damn it, Suika!" I yelled as I shook my fist in the air to express my anger. Now my backyard was really ruined.

Suika was still on the ground, looking up at me with that frightful stare of hers. She tutted at me. "Oh~, Reimu~! You know better to drink and FLY~!" She told me. _Look who's talking._ To my displeasure, she pulled out a spell card from her pocket.

"Oh come on! The shrine will be damaged if you use one of your spell cards this close!" I yelled out my complaint at her, but she ignored me again. _Damn you, oni!_

"It's oka~y, Reimu. I will help you clean up once we wake up." She tries to assure me in that freakishly distorted voice of hers. Her spell card burns up in black flames in her hand. _That's not normal._ "Throwing of the Rock Door!" She declared her spell card.

I prepared myself as I watched the ground begin to shake. The ground cracked and crumbled and soon chunks of it were torn out from the ground. The chunks of rock were pulled towards Suika's fist that she held above her head. A giant boulder quickly began to form around her fist.

I swear she was bent on ruining everything around the shrine. The ground was completely torn apart. It would take forever to get it fixed up. Once I figure out what her deal is I'm going to force her to fix everything up and then I'll throttle her.

Once the boulder became a few times larger than my shrine, Suika readied herself to throw it. _You hit my shrine with that and I swear to the gods you will never taste alcohol ever again._

"Hey! Reimu! CA~TCH!"

With her strength as an oni, she launched the boulder towards me. Moving fast, I was able to quickly fly out of the way of the giant boulder. My hair fluttered wildly from the air it created as it flew past me and into the sky.

I kept my eyes on the darkness-covered oni. "Well that wasn't too bad." I spoke too soon.

A loud bang echoed above me. I looked up to see that the boulder had exploded from within. Volleys of rock were thrown about in every direction with several of them flying towards me. I pulled out some amulets from my sleeves and threw three at the barrage of stone. I destroyed three stones then ducked to dodge a fourth, letting it fly over my head. I threw some more amulets, destroying five more chunks of rock and leaving a single one left flying towards me. I stretched my leg back and took aim. _Easy does it now._ I swung my foot in a circular motion, kicking the stone in midflight and sending it spiraling towards Suika. She went to dodge, but was ultimately struck by the rock. It smashed through the darkness around her and struck her in the face. She was blasted backwards, tumbling and bouncing across the ruined ground until finally coming to a grinding stop.

I pumped my fist in triumph. "Hi~t!" I cheered for myself. "That's payback for punching me, Suika!" I call out to the oni as she struggled to get back up from the ground.

With a grin, I nodded to myself for a job well done. I think she was finished. That rock hit her pretty hard. Not hard enough to take down an oni like her but maybe just enough to snap her out of her strange state.

I descended to the ground and slowly approached the defeated oni. She tried pushing herself up from the ground, but she would fall right back down face first into the dirt each time. _She really is done._ Though I believed she was pacified, I was still worried about that darkness that was still clinging to her. _Looks like an exorcism is in order._

I still had plenty of amulets left on me. I fell asleep in the clothes I wore yesterday along with what was left in them, including my spell cards. An exorcism should be a piece of cake.

I stood over the fallen oni with some amulets in my hand. I walked around her, placing down an amulet every few steps. I made a ring of amulets around her then stood in front of her. I clasped my hands together and began to concentrate. I hoped a simple exorcism was all that was needed because I really didn't want to have to take the time to prepare a more complex one.

With my eyes closed, I inhaled in deep breaths and exhaled them slowly. _Relax and focus. Or as Marisa would say… Chill the fuck out, da ze!_ I giggled to myself, forcing me to start over again. _Get serious now, Reimu._

The second I began to murmur my chant, I felt someone grab a hold of my left ankle. I looked down to see Suika, with her face still in the dirt, holding onto my foot.

I happily smiled at the confused oni. "Just relax, Suika. I will have you fixed up in no time. After that I will find out what caused you to be that way. But of course, I will have to do it myself. You will need to stay here and fix up this mess you created." I told her kindly. I didn't want to go out and find out what could have caused that strange darkness around her, but it was my duty so I had no choice.

I went to continue on with the exorcism, but I was reminded what happens when one lets down their guard. A terrible pain shot up my leg from my left foot, causing me to cry out. Suika had just crushed my ankle with her hand, shattering it like it was just a simple glass cup.

My eyes watered up. Brought to my knees, I cried out in agony. The pain I felt was unbearable. This is the first time I've ever had a bone broken so badly. "Ahg! Erah!" I clenched my teeth as I tried to fight against the pain. _It hurts so much!_

Suika let go of my foot and rose to her feet. She grabbed a hold of my hair, nearly ripping it out when she clenched it. I grabbed her hand and tried to break her grip, but of course I stood no chance in breaking an oni's hold.

She glared at me with those empty eyes. I actually felt a chill run up my spine. Her expression had not changed at all. She was still holding that somewhat-angry looking grin that she's been wearing. She looked almost psychotic, actually.

"Don't be silly, Reimu~. The party has just BEGU~N!" She declared loudly.

She sent a knee into my chest, hitting me so hard that I was blasted out of her grip and across the ruined yard and into the wall of my shrine. I crashed through the wall and landed on my table, breaking it in two. A little of my hair was torn out of my head and was probably still in her grip. The pain in my head and ankle was nothing compared to the pain in my chest. If it wasn't for the protection charms underneath my clothes, I would have been in very bad shape. What was she trying to do? Kill me?

"Ahg! Damn it, it hurts…" I groaned breathlessly.

With my body trembling from the pain, I tried to get up and when I did I heard and felt, oh by the gods did I ever feel, something snap loudly in my side. A pain-filled shriek from me followed the snap. _What was that? My rib?_

Suika burst through the already damaged wall, finishing it off and pissing me off more. I glare at her intensely as she approached me.

"And where do you think you're going, Reimu~? You still haven't taken a SHOT with me YE~T!"

She lunged towards me with a fist ready as she shouted. I jumped out of the way, careful to use my good foot to push off the floor and not my bad. My ribs seemed to all jiggle in an unnormal way in my body as I moved, making me sick. I was able to avoid the oni's fist, but I quickly figured out it didn't matter. My entire shrine was blown apart from the inside from the sheer force of her fist. I was blown out onto the stone path that led to my shrine, hitting the hard ground with a thud and rolling a few feet before stopping.

Moaning in pain, I managed to sit up on my bottom, allowing me to see that my shrine was no more. Once again it was destroyed by a blasted youkai. I gritted my teeth and held tightly onto my skirt in rage as I held back tears. This was no time to cry over the loss of my shrine. It was hard not to, though.

The out-of-control oni leaped out from the smoking rubble that was once my shrine and landed in front of me, the force of her landing sending out a shock wave that knocked me backwards and sent me tumbling down the stone steps.

"REIMU~! REIMU, WHERE ARE YOU~?!" I heard Suika's horrible shriek. It felt as if my ears drums had popped.

Her footsteps caused the ground beneath me to quake, making it more difficult for me to get to my feet as it already was. I placed my hand over my shattered ankle. My hand glowed light-blue as I healed the pieces back into place. Once I was on my feet I got to healing my chest. The bones that were knocked out of place snapped back to where they belonged.

_My head still hurts._ I stood prepared for Suika's next attack when she appeared standing on the stone steps above me, looking down at me with those dark eyes.

"Oh, there you are, Reimu! I have an IDEA~! Let's play a game of TA~G!" I swore her shrieking voice produced the gust of wind that slapped me in the face after she spoke.

She leaped into the air with a fist aimed straight for me. _I'm ready for you this time._ I moved my hands out in front of me, forming a large purple barrier in front of me. She threw her fist forward into the barrier, causing a devastating blast of wind to be produced from the point of contact. I grunted from the impact of her fist against my barrier, but I was able to hold my ground. The blast of wind cracked the stone steps beneath us and splintered the trees around us. The sound of its blast itself shook the air.

"REIMU~! REIMU~! REIMU~!" Suika shouted my name relentlessly. _Please stop that. It freaks me out._

My barrier began to crack just when I expected it to. What I didn't expect was for Suika to suddenly explode into numerous smaller versions of herself. I launched my barrier forward, sending it crashing against the stone steps and crushing some of the mini-Suikas. A bunch of the others managed to avoid the flying barrier by flying around it then immediately fly towards me. It wasn't my smartest choice, but these mini-Suikas weren't leaving me with much choice. I engaged them in close combat.

With my right foot glowing blue in spirit energy, I swung my leg into a spinning kick, striking four of the mini-Suikas. With the same foot I crushed another one then jabbed another when it came flying towards my face. _Watch them closely. Predict where they are going to go. _Several of them swarmed behind me, but I was more than prepared. I jumped into the air when they went to attack me, letting them pass right under me. I took that chance to form another large purple barrier and sent it crashing into the stone steps, crushing a bunch more of those mini-Suikas.

I landed a few steps down the stone steps. I gasped when I felt something grab both of my feet. It was two mini-Suikas sticking out of the ground and they held me down firmly.

"I always hated when you used that ability!" I yelled my frustration at the little pests.

I faked being distracted by the little buggers clinging to my feet, allowing the swarm of mini-Suikas to close in on me. One of my spell cards popped out from under my right sleeve and into my hand.

"Dream Sign "Evil Sealing Circle"!" I declared. _This will hurt her a lot in that form._

With my spell unleashed, a shining wave of light-blue light rose around me and into the sky before expanding outward in nearly an instant. The mini-Suikas were blown away, set ablaze in spiritual blue fire. My spell ended quicker than I could declare it, but its purpose was fulfilled. The mini-Suikas lay scattered about on the ground. Some were hanging on tree branches and a few others were falling down the stone steps like one of those toys from The Outside World. Slinkys I think they were called.

I groaned when I saw that Suika was not going to stay down. _They never give up easily._ The mini-Suikas rose up then began clumping together in front of me, creating a mass of darkness that then formed into Suika's normal form. The second she was whole again she rushed for me.

"You're having fun with me right, Reimu?! YOU'RE HAVING FUN WITH ME! RI~GHT! REI~! MU~!" The louder she was the more distorted and warped her voice became. Her scream was loud enough to pierce my ears and rattle my brain. I involuntarily clasped my hands over my ears, leaving me open to attack.

Suika threw punches after punches at me. The air ripped with each swing she made and thunder clapped with every jab. I was thrown into defensive mode as I struggled to avoid being struck with one of her punches.

My heart pounded in my chest when I realized that just one of her hits would easily end my life. My protection charms would not save me from a hit like the ones she was trying to land on me. She really was trying to kill me. Suika, a female oni that likes to sleep over with me and play games. Mostly without my permission of course, but still, she is a frequent guest of mine. Whatever that darkness was that was possessing her it was strong enough into forcing her to try and kill me. Me, the Hakurei Shrine Maiden and someone she rooms with. I realized that moment the seriousness of the situation. I could not play games anymore. I cannot allow myself to die.

Suika's arms and fists were burning from the friction of the air as she swung them around. I ducked to avoid one fiery swing then somersaulted backwards down the stone steps and onto flat ground while also avoiding the explosion that went off just from her fist striking open air. _I learned that one from the half-ghost, Youmu._

Just as I wanted, Suika jumped from the stone steps and towards me, her feet stretched out towards me, ready to crush me underneath them. I waited for her to get close to landing, preparing my legs to jump. Once the timing was right, I leaped into the air. Suika past directly beneath me and landed where I had just been standing with tremendous force of several thousand tons. The ground quaked from the awe-inspiring force and chunks of stone protruded upward from the ground. That's when I pulled out my second spell card.

"Sorry, Suika! But this may hurt a lot!" I warned her. The spell card burned up in blue fire and the power it contained absorbed into my hands. "The Dream "Exorcising Border"!" I thrusted my hands down towards Suika as I shouted my attack.

A giant and thick blue and purple barrier formed from the power that flowed out from my hands. Its shape formed instantly and was thrown down atop of the little oni, crushing her underneath it in blinding splendor. Everything around me was basked in its blue glow. I looked like I was wearing a blue uniform for a moment before the light finally died down. I was tired, as evident by my labored breathing, but the job was done.

_Phew… That did it._

I descended back down to the ground once the cloud of dust that was picked up by my attack had been blown away by the autumn wind. I looked around the spot Suika was standing before being consumed by the barrier, but I saw no sight of her.

"Hmm…" I raised an eyebrow. _Surely she didn't run off, did she?_ I kept scanning the area. "Oh?" I spotted something lying off to the side of the broken stone steps. I jogged to it then picked it up. "Her gourd?" I examined her precious holder of booze. There was a smudge of fresh blood on it. It looked like I had hurt her quite a bit. I hope not too badly. _Even if she is possessed, it's hard to believe she would leave this behind._

I knew that once I got her back to normal she wouldn't come back around for a while. She would be quite upset with herself for what she did to my shrine. It made me sad. I always told her she was a bother when she would stay at my shrine, but I never truly minded her company. It was fun, but I needed to keep those kinds of thoughts to myself. I wanted to tell her that it wasn't her fault and that I forgave her and she could sleep over like she always does, but I would not be able to do that. I would have to let her be alone. That is just how it is.

I sat the gourd down where I found it and looked around me. I tried sensing her cheerful spirit, but it was nowhere to be found. She couldn't have gotten so far away from me so I couldn't sense her so quickly. I couldn't even feel that ominous dark shroud that was around her. Not a trace of her was felt. Her body nowhere to be seen. It was as if she simply vanished completely.

I stood silently, confused and lost. _What is going on?_

My body quivered when I finally noticed the abnormal appearance of the woods around me. How could I have not noticed it before? The trees, the grass, the rocks, everything seemed to be drained of its color, dull and gray. I looked up into the sky, seeing it completely black. It wasn't night time, far from it, but the land was not being lit by the sun's warm glow. It was very odd to me. I flew up high into the sky to get a better view of things. Adding to my worries, the land seemed to be covered in a strange mist of darkness.

It was yet another incident. I didn't like it. Incidents were always a pain to solve. But this one was already proving to be a threatening one. I most certainly couldn't just overlook it. _Just what is going on __here?_

The wind blew past me, causing me to hug myself as I shivered from its unnatural cold. A sense of loneliness followed the winds chill for some strange reason, like the wind itself was the cause of it or something. I merely shrugged the feeling off and planned what to do next.


	2. Chapter 2 The Shadow in the Wind

I quickly went back to my destroyed shrine and gathered what equipment I could scavenge from the rubble, fighting back tears for my home the entire time. Whatever caused Suika to do this was going to get one hell of a thrashing from me. I managed to fine my gohei under broken planks of wood as well as some purifying needles, charms and more amulets. Hoping I had all that I would need to solve this new incident, I turned away from the painful site where my shrine once sat and headed down the broken stone steps with curses slipping out of my mouth here and there.

The relentless wind crept up on me again, chilling me to the bone. I hugged myself in reaction as I shivered. "Darn autumn winds. Go bother someone else for a little bit." I say bitterly.

Once I got to the bottom of the stone steps, I looked to see that Suika's gourd was still lying on the ground right where I had left it. I had thought that if I left it alone then Suika would come back for it. I was sure she would, but it looks like she may still be possessed. I hoped not. Then again I thought maybe I had hurt her too much and she was simply unable to come back for it. I did put a lot of power into my attack to get her to stop attacking me, but then how was she able to disappear so quickly like she did?

_I really hope she's alright…_

I looked up into the sky at the black clouds that filled it. I had already decided on where to go to find the source of this strange black mist that had blanketed Gensokyo. The black clouds were crawling across the sky from the west so I figured I would go that way. To the west was where Misty Lake was and on the other side of it was the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I started to grit my teeth in anger when the face of a certain vampire flashed in front of me. A world of darkness would be a paradise for that vampire. Of course she was responsible for all of this. She just had to be. I would bet a week of donations that it was her. I also would bet that she has no idea what her stupid spell has done. Causing an oni to try and kill the Hakurei Shrine Maiden? She's a fool. A stupid stupid fool.

I clenched my gohei in my hand tightly. "When I find that little vampire… my gohei is going straight up her behind." I declared.

The wind blew past me yet again, pushing my hair over my face. I brushed my hair back out of my eyes and sighed. _Really don't want to fly in this wind. It's too cold._ Flying with the wind blowing so coldly was going to suck, but I needed to get to that vampire's mansion fast so I could ring her neck. Was going to be a miserable trip for sure.

Just when I was about to take flight, I heard some yelling. _Suika?_ Thinking it might be the oni, I headed for the shouting voice. I wanted to see if she was okay. Might end up fighting her again so I got on my guard.

The voice became clearer the closer I got to the person shouting. It wasn't Suika, but what I believed to be someone I knew. I continued walking until I could hear what the person was actually shouting. I step behind the trunk of a tree and peeked around it. _Ah, not that silly girl…_

"Welcome! Welcome!" The shouting persisted.

The pale green-haired girl shouted. I squinted my eyes to get a better look at her. My eyes immediately widened in surprise when I saw the Shrine Maiden of that other shrine covered in wavy darkness, just like Suika was. Darkness held onto to her body, waving around her like smoke being blown around by the wind. Like the oni, it was hard to focus directly on her, forcing me to glance away as my eyes began to hurt.

"Gosh darn it. Not Sanae too." I whispered to myself.

She was dancing around by herself, swinging her gohei around wildly as she continued to shout. "Welcome all! Welcome to~ the Mori~ya~ SHRI~NE!"

She was loud, like Suika was. Her voice creepily warped and echoed as she spoke. Her skin dark and drained of its color. To my displeasure, she was in the same state as Suika was. I was actually thinking she would be fine and would have been on her way to try and solve this incident herself. 'Try' being the key word. I wondered why she was out here to begin with. I guessed she was on her way to visit me again and bug me on how I should team up with her. Such an annoying girl, but good at heart.

She twirled around in circles on the tip of her shoe, the dark shroud spinning with her. "THANK YOU for your kind and GENEROUS donations! Your fai~th will no~t be put to WASTE!" She spoke similarly to Suika, talking about random things to herself. "Plea~se do~ come ba~ck and visi~t AGAIN!"

My head began to hurt from all the yelling the weird girl was doing. I wondered if I should attack, but I decided to leave her be. No point in wasting my time with the girl if she's just going to walk around aimlessly and shout mindlessly. Don't want to expend effort when it probably won't get me anywhere.

_She'll be fine by herself._ I turned around and began walking, leaving the Wind Maiden to her own. The sooner I got to the Scarlet Devil mansion the sooner I could free her from the darkness controlling her.

"Oh! Rei~mu~!"

I jumped in surprise from the freaky call. _Oh gods…_ I slowly turned around to see that Sanae had spotted me. She was making her way towards me, her gohei held in a strong grip. It almost looked like it would snap in two from her squeezing it so hard. I saw that her eyes were like black pearls just like Suika's were. She was grinning madly. _Please stop grinning like that. It was creepy on Suika, but it's more so on you._

"Why, Hello~ there Reimu~! I'm so glad to SEE! YOU!" Sanae shouted, her black eyes glued right on mine.

I stood ready for a fight, expecting her to attack me just like Suika did. "Um… Hello there, Sanae. It is nice to see you." I lied through my teeth. _Why am I even trying to talk to her?_

"REIMU~! I'm so HAPPY~ to see YOU~!" She stormed her way towards me in a very threatening manner.

"Yes, I heard you the first time!" I yelled at her as I waited for her to make the first move.

The second she got within reach of me, the bitch sucker punched me with a fast right hook, hitting me across the face. The blow sent me to the ground. I cupped my hurt mouth with my hand for a second then looked at my palm to see blood on it. She had nearly knocked some of my teeth out. The punch was powerful and sudden so I was a bit stunned, leaving me open to the kick she delivered to my face. I cried out as blood flew out from my mouth. I was thrown on my back from the kick.

"We need to work together, Reimu~!" Sanae said as she stood over me. She reached down to grab a hold of me.

I sneered at her as a line of blood rolled down my cheek from the corner of my mouth. "Try working with a shoe in your crotch then come talk to me." I told her then swung my foot up between her legs and hitting my mark directly.

She didn't let out a cry of pain like I was hoping, but she was clearly hurting. She stood with both of her hands squeezed between her thighs. I got back up to my feet, only for her to retaliate with another right hook towards my face. _Damn, she recovered quickly._ I blocked her attack with my left arm then countered with a right hook of my own, my fist crashing into her cheekbone. A left jab followed the right hook, hitting her perfectly in the nose and knocking her down to the flat of her back.

I quickly pulled out a spell card. I needed to end this fight quickly so I could be on my way, but before I could declare my attack, she wrapped her feet around my legs. She pulled my feet out from under me, sending me to the flat of my back. _Damn girl. Stop being so persistent._ I tried to get back up, but she had launched herself into the air in a somersault before crashing down on me, her feet stomping into my stomach. I involuntarily gaped as all the air in my lungs was forced out of me. The Wind Maiden jumped off of me, reached down, grabbed me by the face with her nails digging into my skin then threw me through the air and towards the trunk of a tree with a strength that was no way normal for her.

I painfully crashed into the tree, breaking it in two. I hit the ground hard and rolled a few times before stopping. My entire body was shaking from the sudden physical impact it had received. I rose to my knees, hunching over and a hand clenching my stomach as I gasped for air. I was hurting all over now.

I spat up a glob of blood then moaned. "Uhg… That little… She's really gonna get it now." I growled breathlessly then forced myself to my feet.

The second I got to my feet, Sanae was suddenly there to drive her fist into my stomach, knocking out the wind that I had just gotten back. _Gosh damn it! Let me breathe for a second!_ She then grabbed me by the neck with both of her hands then through me up against a tree. She squeezed with all of her might as my feet dangled in the air. I grabbed her wrists and tried desperately to pull her off me.

"Please ju~st THINK about it, Reimu! We would MAKE the GREATE~ST duo in GenSOkyo EVER!" She says as she strangles the life out of me with her darkness covered hands. Her nails were breaking through my skin, making me bleed.

_I'm losing consciousness!_

I started to wildly kick her with my feet, driving the tip of my feet as far into her stomach as I could. The green-haired girl didn't flinch what-so-ever as I tried to hurt her. She ignored my kicks completely, continuing to stare murderously into my eyes with those black balls in her eye sockets. _Let me go, you bitch!_

She viciously slammed the back of my head against the trunk of the tree three times before flinging me through the air and into the trunk of another tree head first. The second I hit the ground I rushed to my feet even though I was extremely dazed from the many blows to the head. My hair was soaked with my blood and now I was seeing double. _Ah, it'll take forever to get the smell of blood out of my hair!_

I didn't wait for my vision to correct itself, not that I was going to get the chance, for Sanae was rushing towards me at an alarming speed. Her speed was definitely unnatural. It looked like she was leaving behind an afterimage. Maybe whatever it is that is possessing her is also increasing her physical abilities some? It had to be that. She never displayed such strength and speed before, unless the silly girl was hiding her potential.

I endured the pounding pain in my head and formed a blue barrier in front of me before Sanae closed the distance between us. She threw a fist towards my face, but her fist bounced off the barrier. She was stronger, yes, but not as strong as Suika can be. She wasn't going to break my barriers easily. That didn't stop her from trying however as she continued to throw punches against the barrier. The sound of bone hitting my magical barrier echoed with every hit. With the way she was throwing those punches you would think she would be tired, but that was not the case. She showed no signs of fatigue and just continued hammering away at my barrier.

"REIMU! REIMU! You need to upgra~de to a BETTER shri~ne like MINE if you~ want to gather any FAITH!" The damn girl yelled. _You're not helping my headache any with all of that yelling._

"I hope your shrine burns down in a fire with you in it and you die! Seriously!" I shouted angrily at her.

"REI~MU~! Let me SHOW you new and better wa~ys to gather fai~th! As O~NE shrine maiden to ANOTHER~!" She screamed as she punched relentlessly at the barrier.

"Sorry, but I don't feel it necessary to show off my boobs to gather faith, you tramp." I replied curtly.

I know she was possessed and all, but I really wanted to hurt her for personal reasons now. I know she is only trying to help me when she insists on these kinds of things, but it's frustrating. I do things the way I do them and live the way I do for a reason that is beyond my control. The last thing I needed was some shrine maiden from The Outside World who doesn't know any better bothering me about it.

_Enough of that. I need to focus on ending this fight._

With the Wind Maiden busy on trying to punch her way through my barrier, I threw my own fist towards her. My fist passed through the barrier and connected with her face, ending her barrage of punches. I jumped into the air and dropped kicked her in her oversized chest then landed back on my feet. She was knocked back to the ground, but she jumped back to her feet a split second after hitting the ground.

_Oh, jeez!_ I quickly took notice of the spell card burning up in her hand.

"Esoterica "GRA~Y THAUMATURGY"!" She bellowed her spell. She held her hand back behind her as her spiritual power pooled into the palm.

I answered her spell card with my own spell card. "Treasure Sign "Yin-Yang Orb"!" I declared. One of my sacred ying-yang orbs floated out of my pocket and into my hand, shining a bright blue.

_Alright, Sanae, give me all you got!_

With the orb in my hand, I drew it back then thrusted it forward with Sanae doing the same. The ying-yang orb grew to my size in an instant, smashing against the equally large star-shaped danmaku that she attacked me with. Her blue star shined as bright as my orb did and they sent out a flash that was even brighter when they collided. Our attacks spun wildly against each other as they tried to overcome one other.

The wind being produced from the chaotic situation was intense to say the least. Autumn leaves were torn from their branches and flown upwards in the spiraling wind. Bark was being peeled from trunks and small trees were uprooted. The raging wind itself howled in my ear. _Please don't rip my clothes off. Please don't rip my clothes off._

"Oh, Reimu~!" I heard the dumb girl yell form behind the two spinning forms of spiritual power. _Just shut up and fight, you stupid girl._ "Reimu~! Plea~se let me help you~, Reimu~! I only wish to HELP YOU~, REI~MU~! LET ME HELP YOU~, REI~MU~!" Her warped screams were mind wrecking. "REI~MU~! I hate see~ing you ALO~NE!"

"I don't need your frik'n sympathy, you stupid bitch!" I yelled, letting my anger out on accident again.

My anger didn't come out as just a shout, it came out as more power, power that fueled my spell. My spinning orb tripled in size and intensity in nearly an instant. Its glowing blue aura turned into a shining yellow glow. Sanae's star was swallowed up completely as I pushed the orb forward. The shattering of her spell was all I could hear after I rammed my attack into her. We were both enveloped in a large explosion of mystical blue fire immediately afterwards. I was blown back into the trunk of a tree, my back hitting it with a crack.

I fell exhausted onto my bottom. I sat breathing heavily as I tried to catch my breath, coughing a few times from breathing in the dust in the air. My head hurt a lot and I was still bleeding. I put my hand on top of my head then healed the cut skin, ending the bleeding. I put a lot more energy into that fight then I should have needed to. If only that darn girl hadn't attacked me, I would have been to Misty Lake by now.

I took a few moments to relax then slowly got to my feet. "Ow~…" I moaned when the muscles in my legs decided to hurt.

I walked over to where Sanae was. At least I thought I would find her, but instead there was no sight of her.

"Huh? Sanae?" I looked around confused. I couldn't sense her now. _Where did she go?_

I looked down at my feet, spotting that frog-head hair clip of Sanae's. It was dripping with blood. I accidently hurt her. I felt worse about hurting her then about hurting Suika because unlike the oni who could handle it much better, Sanae was just a human girl. Just like me. She didn't want to be hurt like that. Just like me.

I was worried for her. "Sanae! Sanae, I'm sorry!" I call out to her, hoping for her to come out from hiding. She must have been hiding.

I really hoped she was okay. I never told her, but I always appreciated her offers to help me, despite her being a little too enthusiastic about it for my taste. Of course I had to turn her down each time. I was rude about it too and I felt sorry for it.

I tried to sense her presence despite the pounding in my head, but I got nothing. She somehow managed to get far away from me. But how could she when she was hurt as badly as she was? Was she still consumed in that dark shroud? I didn't know any of these things. I wanted to know so I sat her bloody hair pin back down on the ground and headed towards where I thought I could find the answers.


	3. Chapter 3 Dead Heavens

I checked my gut to make sure all was well before continuing on. To my relief, everything was fine. I took extra precautions to make sure my gut could withstand some hardy hits with some fine-tuned protection charms. Can never be too careful with the softer parts of my body. Pissing myself just because I took a heavy blow to the gut is always embarrassing during a fight. At least I thought it was when I saw it happen to Marisa... She started it, just in case you were wondering.

I argued with myself on whether or not I should fly to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. If I flew, then that would mean a higher chance of me being spotted by someone else who may be possessed by the darkness and forcing me into yet another fight that I would much rather avoid. Plus it was cold. On the other hand, walking there would take a lot of time and that would mean more time for this dark mist to cause more damage. Plus it was cold.

After a couple minutes of arguing quietly with myself, I decided to just fly. The faster I got there then the faster I can end this. I can't let it go on anymore. The cold was going to be miserable though…

I took off into the air and made my way to that vampire's mansion. Just seeing her face in my mind angers me right now. The red mist she let out before was innocent enough to be easily forgiven, but not this black mist. I'm going to have to give her one hell of a beating for pulling a stunt like this.

_I wonder if Marisa is already on her way there._

Not sure why, but I started to think about Marisa. Her wacky personality somehow managed to leave its mark on me. There's very few days that go by when I don't wonder what she is up to. I wondered now if she was fighting with someone possessed. I wondered now if she was among the possessed…

Of course without fail I was snapped out of my thoughts by a danmaku shot that ended up hitting me square in the chest. Hard to get a moment of peace to just think quietly in solitude. Come to think of it… I don't remember ever feeling at peace whenever I was alone by myself, as often as that was.

"Cheap frik'n shot that one was…" I winced as I looked towards the forest below me from where the danmaku came from.

Another one was sent flying through the leaves of the trees, just narrowly hitting me again. I decided I would save myself time by just going down there and looking for the culprit, so I did.

I landed in a small clearing within the forest and prepared myself. _Who could it be this time?_

I look to my left when I heard the rustling of bushes. From the forest stepped out not one but two bewitched shadows of people I knew. _Great… Just the people I wanted to fight with… Not._

The two lovely ladies in black this time were the blasted celestial Tenshi Hinanawi and her babysitter Iku Nagae. Both were covered in the dark shroud and both were grinning creepily at me as they slowly approached me.

"Oh! Loo~k, Iku~! It's the Shri~ne Mai~de~n!" Tenshi yelled needlessly.

"So it is, Eldest Daughter~." Iku said, thankfully more quietly than the others have been, at least that time.

I usually don't hold grudges against anyone, but I could not help but get angry whenever I would see Tenshi. Because of that, I tried to look at this encounter as an opportunity to kick her ass. Possessed or not, I'll make sure she remembers the punishment I'm about to give her.

"Oh, REIMU! I ONLY just HEAR~D about what HAPPE~NED and wish to~ COMFORT YOU!" Tenshi screeched, making me clasp my hands over my ears. _I'm going to go deaf!_

It was at that point that I went from being angry with Tenshi for her past crime to downright hating her for bringing up a subject I had pushed to the back of my mind. People need to learn to mind their own damn business. I could already feel my teeth breaking from me grinding them together so hard as I grew more and more pissed off. _My head hurts…_

"PLEASE, Eldest Daughter~! Please. Do. NOT! Antagoni~ze. The. SHRINE! Maide~n. She see~ms to be~ still UPSET! ABOU~T I~T! I sense ANGER in the ATMOSPHERE~!" Iku bellowed, her warped voice blurring my vision. It made me dizzy.

"But, IKU~! Clearly she is PISSED at that BI~TCH!" Tenshi spoke to Iku while keeping her black eyes pinned on mine and continuing her threatening approach towards me.

I ended up snapping at that point out of frustration.

"Both of you, shut up! Tenshi, you are the last person I want any 'comfort' from!" I shouted. Again I tried to speak with these possessed dolls for whatever reason. Guess I just needed to release the built up stress somehow. Yelling helped. Kind of…

Determined not to let Tenshi get the first hit on me, I pulled out six purification needles, each one gripped between two of my fingers in both hands.

This was going to be a difficult fight for sure. Two on ones are always difficult. I needed to keep my attention on both of them at all times, never losing sight of either of them. So far it looked like I was going to be cut some slack because Iku was standing back while Tenshi went to engage me. Regardless, I needed to keep watch for her for when she does decide to attack.

"I sincerely~ feel sorry for YOU~, REIMU~! PLEASE believe ME~!" Tenshi bellowed as she lunged for me.

Ignoring her ignorant comment, I jumped back then threw my needles, all six aimed right for that hardly noticeable chest of hers. Each needle hit its mark, but Tenshi didn't even bat an eye at them and continued onwards towards me. She threw a jab at my face that I ended up catching. I countered with a side kick to her ribs. Annoyingly, she took the hit without so much as flinching and continued to grin maddeningly at me. I kicked her again in the same spot then a third time followed by a fourth. The only thing I accomplished was hurting my leg. _Fuck you, Tenshi! Fuck you!_

Tenshi grabbed me by the front of my shirt and pulled me close to her face, giving me a chance to see how endless the blackness in her eyes seemed to be.

"STOP being MEAN, Reimu~!" She yelled in my face.

She pulled her head back then snapped it forward, striking me with a head-butt that forced me to let go of her fist.

"Guh!" I grunted from the force of the impact.

Sneering hard as a line of blood rolled down from the cut on my forehead, I thrusted my palms forward, sending out a shockwave. The blast hit Tenshi and blasted her backwards. The second she hit the ground, she burst into black smoke and vanished. _What the hell?! Where did she-_

I was franticly looking around for Tenshi when I suddenly took a punch to my ribs from behind. The wind was forced out of me and I nearly fell to my feet when they went weak. A sweeping kick made sure I fell, but another kick struck me before I hit the ground, sending me flying like some kind of sports ball.

I hit a tree, bouncing off of it with my stomach. I fell to the ground and felt something come up my throat. I cupped my mouth as I felt the need to vomit, but I managed to force the feeling away.

I laid there in the grass for a moment on my stomach, gritting my teeth and clenching my fists as my blood boiled. That's the third time they managed to one up me! I'm usually the one to get the first shots in during a fight. What the hell was wrong with me? Why was I letting them get the chance to hurt me?

I punched the ground in frustration then quickly stood back up, right in time to nearly catch a punch to my gut. I snatched Tenshi's wrist then gave it a quick strong twist. Her entire right arm rotated, her arm twisting in her shoulder. A loud snap followed almost immediately afterwards. I had twisted her arm so fast that she wasn't able to move her body with it so all it could do was brake in her shoulder. I swung the top of my fist into her jaw with another sound of bone breaking following the impact. I took three needles and jammed them into her gut then finished with another shockwave. She was sent backwards, her back bouncing off the trunk of a tree. I felt a little better doing that to Tenshi, but not much.

I had hurt Tenshi through that dark shroud. She was struggling to get back up onto her feet. Her right arm dangled at her side and her jaw didn't seem to look right. I felt a bit of guilt grow in my gut.

That feeling of guilt was quickly replaced by pain when someone grabbed my shoulder from behind and dug their fingers into it.

"Youch! Son of a bitch, that hurts!" I turned my head to see who the dark hand belonged to. "Ah, Iku… Decided to join in?" I ask bitterly.

Iku gazed into my eyes with her darkness-filled eyes. She wasn't grinning weirdly at me like the others have been. She actually looked really angry.

"Shri~ne Maide~n… Don't… do it…" She said in a deep and demonically warped voice. My body quivered from the wickedness it seemed to bleed.

I was actually left stunned from the way she spoke. It was then she let loose a torrent of blue electricity throughout my entire body. I screamed in miserable pain as my body jerked and pulled uncontrollably. While I was electrocuted, Tenshi had recovered and jumped in on hurting me. She punched me across the face once, kneed me in the stomach three times, then jumped and landed her elbow onto of my head. I would have been sent to the ground by that last hit if I wasn't being held up by Iku.

I coughed up blood that splattered across Tenshi's chest. I was left disoriented from the numerous blows, my muscles locked up from the violent shock that was forced threw my body. My vision was so blurred that I couldn't even visually recognize the attacker standing in front of me. My head pounded relentlessly as my consciousness was slowly slipping away.

"What's the matter, Reimu~?! Talk to me, Reimu~! TA~LK TO ME~! TA~LK TO ME~!" Tenshi screamed while punching me several times.

My consciousness fully returned to me when I felt a burning sensation in my heart. Breaking through the electric shackles, I managed to reach out and grab Tenshi by the neck with both of my hands. With a tightening grip on her, the electricity that was being pumped through me also went into her. She jerked and contorted uncontrollably as she felt the same pain that I was feeling.

There was a sudden explosion then, my guess being from an electrical overload, and we were both freed from Iku's lightning attack.

The smoke had yet to dissipate when Tenshi swung downward with the Sword of Hisou in an attempt to slice me down the middle. I clapped my hands, catching the sword between them. I swiped my leg under her and knocked her down. I sensed power beginning to surge behind me and I quickly threw my foot backwards, striking Iku in the gut and knocking her up against a tree, stopping whatever attack she was preparing to launch. Tenshi jumped into the air in a backward somersault and landed away from me with a spell card present in her hand.

"EARTH SI~GN "Swor~d of Unletting SOIL"!" She shrieked her declaration.

She took the shape-shifting sword in both of her hands then thrusted it into the ground. Lumps of stone were sent out of the ground that traveled towards me like a tidal wave and with the shocking speed of one. I was more than ready for her spell cards and quickly took to the sky. It was at that time that Iku decided to use a spell card of her own.

"Star Light "Light Dragon's SI~GH"!" Iku called out.

I preferred these kinds of fights. Fights that involved spell cards and not physical engagements. Even if they weren't playing by Spell Card Rules, I was glad they finally decided to go with spells now. How long until they returned to using physical attacks was what I was worried about.

A large swirling ball of crackling lightning formed just below me after Iku's declaration. Immediately after it had formed, a plethora of electrical bolts shot out from it in random directions. The bolts would then arc and turn towards me, trying to hit me from all angles.

I watched each bolt carefully, calculating the direction they were going to try and hit me from. A number of amulets equaling the amount of bolts fell from under my sleeves and into my hands. I waited for the bolts to make their final charge towards me and when the timing was right I threw out my amulets.

I tossed a single amulet at each of the bolts, hitting each one at the same exact time. I watched as numerous explosions of sparks went off all around me. That was one wave. Now it was time for the second.

The second wave of bolts was unleashed from the larger ball of lightning, this time in even greater numbers. It would be a waste to use amulets for all of them so I went with a single spell card.

"Divine Arts "Demon Binding Circle"!" I called out my spell card, becoming enveloped in a purple light in the process.

"Heaven Sign "Sword of Divine JUSTI~CE"!" I heard Tenshi's shrill voice ring out through the sound of snapping electricity.

With a grin on my face, I turned my head in the direction Tenshi's voice came from. _Just as I predicted._ Tenshi was flying towards me at an incredible speed, the point of her sword aimed right at me. She passed through the ever shrinking gaps between the wall of electrical bolts on her way to me.

I canceled my spell card before it could finish and used what energy I had summoned to form a thick purple barrier in front of me. It formed right in time to block Tenshi's attack, or at least to absorb it. Her sword pierced through the barrier, but it failed to go all the way through and hit me. _Phew! That was close! _I released the power that bound the barrier into shape, creating a small blast of purple light. The blast stunned Tenshi and sent her sword flying out of her hand. I took advantage of her stunned state and grabbed her by the front of her shirt with both of my hands.

"Why waste energy creating a barrier when you'll do just fine?" I ask Tenshi.

The bolts of lightning had closed in all around us, sealing us in a cage of sparks. The only way out of this closing death trap was to go right through it, a thought that I had no problems with. After all, I had the perfect shield.

With the celestial in my hands, I flew directly downwards. The collective sound of all of the bolts was deafening to say the least and the light was as bright as the sun when it was at its highest. My eyes and ears would just have to bear it.

Just before I would fly into the wall of blue lightning, I held Tenshi out in front of me, using her as a shield as I went to break through. I wasn't going to get out unscathed, but poor little Tenshi was going to take the brunt of it all. I wasn't all that worried about her, but I only say that because I know she was quite hardy and tough. A little shock wasn't going to put her down. What was needed was a big shock.

"Brace yourself, Tenshi!" I yelled.

We crashed through the wall of bolts and out the other side. The sparks splashed out all around us as if she and I had just made a forceful emergence out of a lake. After that, my destination appeared before me: the large ball of raging lightning Iku was still maintaining. It was preparing to unleash a third wave of bolts, but I wasn't about to give it the chance.

I took Tenshi and slammed her into the ball. Lightning shot out from the point of contact and her body was thrown into a violent twisting and jerking motion as she was electrocuted. I clenched my teeth and bared the painful shock running through me as I was also electrocuted.

"REI~MU~! REI~MU~! STO~P!" Tenshi shrieked in her ear-piercing voice.

I felt a sting of guilt, but I told myself that it was only the darkness controlling her that was screaming at me, screaming at me to stop. It had to be that. What else could it be? I wasn't doing this because I wanted to hurt Tenshi, even if I do hold a petty grudge against her. It's not like other youkai hadn't done bad stuff out of boredom before. But unfortunately, that didn't keep the anger swelling in my heart from getting the best of me at times.

"Sorry, Tenshi… but this is for your own good." I said. _Is it?_

I summoned my spiritual power into the palms of my hand as quickly as I could. Tenshi tried to reach out for me, but her hand was blown back down to her side when I formed a blue barrier between the two of us. She was now left pinned between the barrier and Iku's spell. I fueled the barrier with more power, increasing its size tenfold. Now it was roughly as big as the ball of lightning was round.

"REIMU~! I still want to TA~LK with YOU~! Okay~?! Okay~?! Okay~?!" She cried out insensibly.

Even through the distortion of her voice, I could still hear the pain in it. The guilt only grew, but why? There was no reason to feel guilt, was there? She attacked me first! I was only defending myself. I'm always on the defensive side. I'm always either at home by myself or involved in a fight. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to, just like I have to defeat Tenshi and Iku now, no matter how much I have to hurt them. No matter how much I didn't want to. What I wanted didn't matter. It never did.

_I don't want to hurt them… but they are in my way…_

"It's alright…" I said softly. Those words were mostly aimed at myself I think.

With a final burst of power, I pushed the barrier, sending it and Iku's ball of lightning into the ground below. The barrier crushed the ball underneath it, along with Tenshi, setting off an explosion that was more of a catastrophic lightning storm. Arcs of lightning bounced several times across the forest, exploding and setting on fire several trees. The wind ripped roots from the ground and peeled bark away. When the storm finally ended, much of the area had been ruined.

I panted heavily as I just hovered there in the air. Drained and hurting, I slowly descended back to the forest floor, or what was left of it, looking around for any signs of Tenshi along the way. I did not see her, nor did I sense her presence anywhere.

_Again with the sudden disappearances… Why? Do they just hate me when I defeat them and leave, even though I didn't want to fight them in the first place? Why? Why? Why?_

With so much fatigue, it became difficult for me to think straight. I'm normally much better at using my energy. For some reason I've been expelling my energy inefficiently. Maybe I was letting my emotions get the better of me more than I liked to admit. _This is what happens when I miss breakfast._

I couldn't figure out where Tenshi could have gone off to, though I didn't think about it all that much. I didn't care really. I was just too tired to at the moment. Plus I still had one more person to deal with.

"Shit… Can't you give me a chance to breath?" I said bitterly to the incoming Iku right behind me.

I turned around to see that she had leaped into the air, her shawl spinning wildly around her right arm like a shadowy drill. And it was aimed right at me. I dug my feet into the ground and braced myself for the incoming attack. I formed a blue barrier in front of me just when she landed. She threw her drill straight into the barrier, shattering it as if it was nothing. Her drill attack struck me in the chest, my protection amulets just barely able to keep if from going right through me. I was sent spinning backwards from the force of impact, hitting the ground and skidding across the dirt to a complete stop.

"Au~hg! There goes a kidney." I groaned strenuously.

I leaped back to my feet then leaped again over another stab from Iku's drill attack. I dropped kicked her in the face, knocking her off her feet and to the ground. I fell to the ground as well, having failed to land back on my feet. _Ow! Damn it all!_ We both jumped back to our feet at the same time.

I went to go on the offensive, but I stopped when I noticed the infuriated look Iku had on her face, underneath that veil of shadows. I couldn't help but quiver a little from the incredibly angry look she was giving me. Teeth were clenched fiercely and her eyes seemed to burn with anger. I have no idea why she looked the way she did, but I'm pretty sure I was the one that had more reason to be pissed off at the moment than her.

"Reimu~…" She said deeply. Her voice was barely recognizable at this point, too warped to tell if she was at all there underneath the black shroud. "Reimu~. Reimu~. .Reimu~. Reimu~! Reimu~! Reimu~! REIMU~! REIMU~! REIMU~!" She repeated my name over and over again like some depraved chant, her voice becoming louder each time, each time becoming angrier, each time… feeling as if my heart would burst… as if my bones would crumble… as if my mind would deflate.

I clasped my hands around my ears as I stared blankly at the ground. I was panting heavily, almost hyperventilating. Or maybe I was? I couldn't tell.

"REIMU~! REIMU~ HAKUR~EI~!"

A loud and painful thump was felt in my chest from hearing my full name. It hurt so much I nearly fell to my knees. My hands were shaking. No, my whole body was. I slowly looked back up at the dark Iku who continued to stare intensely at me, drowning me with her rage. I wonder how I looked to her at that moment.

"You! Cannot! Be! FIGHTING! LIKE! THI~S! REI~MU~!" She continued to scream.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if all of Gensokyo could hear her now. I must have been pale-faced from her scary voice. I think I might have broken out into a cold sweat even.

"I… I don't know what you are talking about, Iku. But… But this has to stop now, okay? I'm going to stop you now, okay? All of this has to stop." I said, my voice trembling. I forced a smile for her, a pitiful little smile…

"REIMU~! THINK ABOUT HER, REIMU~!" She screamed again as she took off towards me, dirt kicking up behind her into large dust clouds.

I pulled out an amulet then slammed it to the ground moments before she got within melee distance. A spinning blue barrier popped out of the ground underneath her and launched her into the air. I pulled out a spell card and declared it with haste.

"Divine Arts "Wind God Kick"!"

A blue aura formed around me as I flew into the air with a flying kick. My kick struck Iku directly in the stomach, launching her further into the air. I flew up in another flying kick and this time landed the kick in her chest. Further up she went and I charged towards her with a third and final kick. I hit her with much more force this time, landing a hit in the dead center of her face. A small explosion of blue and black fire went off from the force of the kick, the blast knocking me out of the air and back to the ground. I land on my back hard, having the air in my lungs thrown out of me.

"U~hg… That… That hurt…" I said breathlessly.

I laid where I fell, looking up into the unnaturally black sky and waiting for Iku's retaliation, but the retaliation never came. After a few moments of trying to sense her, I realized that she was no longer there. Like Tenshi. Like Suika and like Sanae, she had run off.

"Again…" I said faintly.

I caught glimpse of something as it slowly fell from the sky.

"Oh?"

The object swayed from side to side and before long I realized that it was a hat. It landed softly on my stomach. _Its Iku's…_

I lifted it up to get a better look at it. It was beat up and torn at the top. A splash of blood was present inside it. _I did kick her pretty hard…_ I tossed the hat to the side then sighed.

Again I could feel that nagging feeling of guilt. I always felt it whenever I needed to do something drastic. Like when a dangerous youkai decided to be… difficult. But it felt different this time and I didn't know why. Regardless, I needed to push the feeling to the side and continue onward towards the Scarlet Devil Mansion… and pray that I wouldn't come across anyone else along the way.

I clenched my chest when that burning pain in my heart returned. I gritted my teeth as it pounded loudly. I ignored the feeling of something running down the side of my face from one of my eyes.

"The things I need to do… as the Hakurei Shrine Maiden…"


	4. Chapter 4 Fatal Game

Instead of immediately taking flight towards the Scarlet Mansion, I took a moment to relax and just walk some of the distance. Maybe just to the Lake's edge. That last fight with Tenshi and Iku had worn me right out, more than it should have. My stomach was kicking me for skipping out on breakfast, as if I did it on purpose just to spite it. Honestly, I should have grabbed at least a biscuit to munch on before I had left. An angry stomach is the worst thing to have when trying to fight people possessed by some darkness. Oh well…

My body was still trembling a little. Not just from the cold either, but from the burning sensation running through my veins from my heart. My heart was beating heavily in my chest and with each beat feeling like it was trying to smash through my ribcage. A little walking should do some good, though it would be nice if Marisa was here.

I have to admit, the thought that Marisa was possessed by this troubling darkness was what brought me the most anxiety. If she was being controlled like the rest, then who the hell is going to help me solve this incident? I really didn't want to solve it myself, even if I am supposed to. This incident bothered me a lot more than any other incident for whatever reason. I don't know why, but for some reason this entire thing just didn't feel right.

The more I thought about it, the harder my heart would beat. Better stop thinking about it so much then, shouldn't I?

For no good reason my stomach decided to be mean spirited.

"Oh gods-!" I said before cupping my mouth with both of my hands.

I fell to my knees and just like that, barfed what little I had in my stomach onto the colorless grass. Nothing but green bile, and more disturbingly, a bit of blood mixed in with it. Probably from the pounding I've gotten the last three fights. I need to get my act together and not let myself be beaten like I have been. I'm going to have to be a little ruthless from the start or I'm just going to take more unneeded damage. The Hakarei Shrine Maiden is supposed to be ruthless when dealing with a threat, after all. But… it just wasn't me. Was just something I was going to have to force myself to be yet again.

I spit on the ground what bile was still in my mouth. _Now I'm gonna have to deal with this nasty taste on my tongue for the rest of the trip…_ I took a few deep breaths, stood up, and continued on my way to my destination.

I hoped since I wasn't flying that I wouldn't run into anyone again. I still needed a little more time to fully recover from my last fight and I simply just didn't want to fight anyone. The only person I wanted to fight was that blasted vampire, Remilia. Wait… No… I wasn't going to fight her. I was going to kick her little ass all over her own mansion. Then after that? I don't know, but I'm sure I'll come up with something before I get to her.

I continued on my merry way, thinking about what I'd do to that cute oh so lovable vampire when out of nowhere someone wrapped their arms around my waste. I was thinking quite a bit about Remilia that I didn't even sense the person. When I looked down behind me, I found the person in question to be Cirno.

I actually felt some of that burning pain in my heart lift a little for a brief moment when I saw her. As much of an annoyance she could be, I could never help but smile a little when I would see her and her other fairy friends playing peacefully without a care in the world. It was nice. Helped me to forget about all of my troubles for a little bit.

I wish I could smile at her, but seeing the shroud of darkness that surrounded the ice fairy only made the burning pain intensify. Why must an innocent child be subjected to this? What did she ever do? All she ever does is try and become stronger. To become the strongest fairy. And that she was.

The dark fairy grinned maddeningly up at me as she hugged me. Her touch was as cold as it always was, but this cold was far different from that of her icy nature. This cold was eldritch in nature and it cut straight into my bones. Jeez… Her ice was thought to be the coldest around. If it wasn't before then I bet it was now; courtesy of the dark presence within her.

But her voice proved to be even more chilling.

"Hey, it's Rei~mu~! Hi, Rei~mu~! What'cha up to~, hu~h?!" Cirno shrieked in such a high pitch voice that it felt like she took some icicles and jammed them into my ears.

I clasped my hands over my ears and cried out in pain in reaction to her voice. I found blood had filled my ears and now that blood was all over my hands. My mind had been shaken up severely by Cirno's voice. My vision was shot and my legs almost gave out underneath me. Why must their voices act like weapons? It kind of isn't fair. It's bogus!

"Hey, Reimu! HEY! REIMU! Fight me! Fi~ght me~!" She shrieked again as she squeezed me tighter.

I pushed my hands over my ears harder as I quivered from the pain-inducing voice. "Hi… Cirno… It's nice to see you again… Won't you please lower your voice?" I said weakly.

_I'm trying to talk with _them _again… I really am some kind of idiot. Here's a better idea… I should just take my fist and drive it into the top of her skull. One hit KO. Can you do that, Me? Can you do that for mummy?_

I finally took my own advice and went to knock the fairy out with one hard punch to the head before our little encounter turned into just another fight, but I was distracted by the sudden painful cold feeling I felt in my legs. _What the hell?! Oh, crap! _I was too late to notice that Cirno had started to freeze me. She had already incased my legs in ice, ice that was laced with blackness. Once again I let the enemy get the first hit on me. Son of a bitch…

"I wa~nt to show you~ how much STRONGER! I! HAVE! BECO~ME!" Cirno screamed, her very voice freezing the air around us. The trees froze and shattered in an instant. If it wasn't for my protection charms… I would have met the same fate, I'm sure.

I quickly got to work building up spiritual energy in my legs in order to shatter the ice. I didn't want to fight, but I had no choice. The good thing was that I didn't mind fighting Cirno all that much. Having her show up out of the blue just to fight me and show me the new things she'd come up with was typical. All I had to do was pretend that this was just a normal day like any other. Just like before all of this darkness. Just like before… Before all this… Before I…

_Oh gods, I'm gonna be sick again!_

I shook my head to force out unwanted memoires before I could get any more sick and throw up from them. I had to give the girl a smile, for old time sake, and those bad memoires would just make it impossible. I just need to forget about them… Just forget about them… Just forget…

I managed a smile. "Well, Cirno. You never gave me much of a choice before so… why the hell not? But don't think I'm going to hold back today. I got something important to do. Something very important so we're going to have to make this a quick match. Okay?" I said as cheerfully as I could force myself to be.

I hoped she heard me through all that darkness…

With my power built up in my legs, I discharged it, shattering the ice and freeing me. I immediately went into a spinning kick, nearly striking Cirno before she leaped into the air. She threw both of her hands forward, countering me with an icy blast. I used a barrier to shield me from the blast then threw the shield at the fairy. The shield crashed into her, breaking into shards on contact. She endured the hit pretty well and pulled out a spell card.

_Awesome. Straight to the spell cards. I like it!_

"Ice Sign "Icicle Ma~chi~ne GUN"!" She declared her spell card, and I was ready.

From her right hand came a blue stream of small icicles, all spinning rapidly through the air. The way she was using this particular spell made it quite easy for me to just roll out of the way. It wasn't until the stream of bullets hit the ground did I learn of their new and unexpected properties. Each icicle unleashed a barrage of crystal shrapnel everywhere once it hit an object, and I took such a barrage right in the leg. Some of the shrapnel cut into the skin, sending out a light splash of blood.

"Ou~ch! Damn it, that hurt!" I whined loudly.

I took off into the air and Cirno continued on with her spell, dragging her stream of ice towards me. She went ahead and fired a second stream from her left hand, trying to cut me off with it while the other stream followed close behind me. Lucky for me, I was too fast for her. I easily flew around the line of bullets, using barriers to shield me from the barrage of icy shrapnel that was set loose whenever the two lines of bullets crossed. Cirno's spells may be clumsy at times, but she never failed to show something different.

I flew high above Cirno, squeezing passed the two lines of bullets as they tried to catch me between them, went into a spin through the air then landed the heel of my foot on top of Cirno's head with a clonk.

"Bullzeye!" I exclaimed.

And Down Cirno went, spinning wildly straight into the ground. She bounced off the ground once, landing face down. _Gotta end this fast…_

I pulled out a spell card and called its name. "Power Sign "Yin-Yang King"!"

The spell card shined a golden light as it burned up in sparkling flames. I clasp my hands around the golden flame, feeling its warmth. I then quickly pulled my hands apart, forming a large golden yin-yang orb. The orb basked me with its golden light and pushed away the bitter cold Cirno's presence gave off.

I looked down at the fairy. "I told you, Cirno. I can't hold back. Sorry about that…" I said, not expecting her to hear me from all the way up here. _I'll have to invite her over for some tea and a friendly duel after this is all over._

I held the golden ball above me, aimed at the defeated fairy, and threw it with a burst of spirit energy.

"I'm sorry, Cirno!" I shouted as I watched the orb as it was about to bury the fairy into the ground.

Cirno got onto her knees then looked up at me with those black eyes that were so easy to see even from this distance. She was grinning nightmarishly… telling me that she was far from out. I watched carefully and fearfully for the counterattack I knew was coming.

_Damn it, Cirno… Pease don't…_

Just before the golden orb was about to land on her, she jumped towards it with an outstretched leg, striking it with a flying kick and sending the spinning yin-yang right back at me.

_She's using my own attack against me?!_

I positioned my right leg behind me as I prepared for a kick. I watched as the yin-yang curved slightly to the left. I adjusted my leg and then when the orb got in range, I swung my leg in a wide arc, striking the golden ball and blasting it back to its original target.

Cirno leaped into the air, striking the ball with her forehead and sending the orb back to me.

I growled in frustration. "Now we're playing a sport?"

I complied with Cirno's unspoken challenge. With another wide sweep of my leg, I kicked the yin-yang, sending it flying passed Cirno. She turned around in time to watch the orb hit the ground and bounce right back up. She swayed to the side before being struck by the rebound.

I click my teeth in disappointment. "Damn… Let's try again."

I kicked the ball again when it returned to me, putting a tighter spin on it along with a dash of my power. The ball spun while sending out a shower of small yellow danmaku. _Try returning that one, Cirno!_

Cirno floated to the right and to the left, up and down, dodging the danmaku in a strangely elegant fashion. She's usually a lot more clumsy with her dodges. I wonder who taught her to move like that. Maybe she learned to on her own? I wouldn't be too surprised if she did, honestly.

It was a treat to watch her dodge so well. It even made me clap my hands a little in applause. If I just pretended that there was no evil darkness controlling Cirno… I could smile without forcing myself to. So that's what I decided to do. Just pretend I wasn't fighting some possessed fairy. It was normal Cirno! Cute little Cirno! Doing what she always does! Nothing to be sad about here!

"Right, Cirno?! You fairies like to play pretend games, right?! That's what we'll do! We'll just pretend none of this darkness is real!" I yelled at Cirno. "We'll pretend none of that bad stuff ever happened! It'll be just like before! Before all of this darkness! Right, Cirno!? Right?! Right?!" My yelling came out desperate. I didn't mean to sound like that or to even yell. It just… came out that way.

_Don't yell at her! She's done nothing wrong!_

My stomach butted in again. I quickly covered my mouth. _Damn it, stomach! Not now! I'm playing with Cirno!_ Thankfully nothing came up, but this was really starting to piss me off.

Cirno formed a large rod of ice and used it to smash through the flying danmaku and hit the golden yin-yang, returning it to me again.

I made the return with a spinning kick and watched as the now cackling fairy rammed into the orb for her return. This silly little game went on and on. I even started to laugh as all the strange darkness felt as if it wasn't even there. For a mere moment I could swear there was no more dark shroud covering Cirno. Like me, she was laughing and giggling as we kicked and bounced this stupid yin-yang orb around like two children oblivious to their cruel surroundings.

Even though I couldn't fully lie to myself, it was still a refreshing relief. I wished for it to last forever.

The golden yin-yang orb picked up speed little by little with every hit me and little Cirno landed on it. I bet my legs were going to be bruised for days after this little game. It got to the point that I had to start using my arms and fists. I hoped I'd out last Cirno, but that girl sure was resilient. She even head-butted the hard orb a few times. I sure as hell wouldn't do that. Kind of wish she wouldn't either; can't be very healthy to do that.

"That's RI~GHT, Reimu~! Pretending is FU~N! I can't WAIT to play pretend games with HER!" Cirno shrieked as she pointed at me.

My heart suddenly skipped a beat. All the muscles in my body tightened up. I was reminded of that pain in my gut, that tormenting pain that I placed in the back of my mind yet still managed to get my attention every so often. I bit down on my teeth, almost grinding them. I glared at the fairy through the shinnying golden orb that made its way to me, completely uncaring of its fast approach.

I clenched my fist, held it to the side then smacked the golden orb away. I had hit it off to the side, sending it crashing into the forest below. I didn't care where it landed. I didn't care about this 'game' me and this fairy were playing anymore. All I cared about was getting to that mansion.

The black fairy's eyes did not move an inch away from mine. "Aww… Why you do THAT, Reimu~?! NO~W you gotta make ANOTHER!" Her voice rung in my ears, but I did not flinch.

I just floated there in the air, staring at the darkness-covered fairy with the thoughts of the Scarlet Devil Mansion running through my mind. I thought about Marisa too, of course.

I had suddenly forgotten where I was for a moment as I floated aimlessly. I remembered when me and Marisa went to the mansion to put an end to the Scarlet Mist. Gosh, was that fun… We met a fairy named Cirno on the way there. I remember her well. So innocent and pure, unlike me. Happy with no traces of hate, unlike me. Always striving to be stronger, unlike me. Always smiling no matter the circumstance. Unlike me…

I stared with no real expression at the black Cirno who was now flying towards me. She was wielding a sword made from her ice, ready to use it to slice me in two.

"Why you space'n out for, REIMU?!" The fairy yelled. "This ain't like YOU, REIMU! Look at ME, REIMU! Play with ME, REIMU!"

She swung her sword vertically down. It smashed over my head, breaking into shards of ice. I felt the blow, but no pain; at least I don't think there was any pain. I wasn't really paying attention to it. I remained motionless and continued to stare into those blackened eyes that hid an innocent fairy behind them.

I felt something run down my face. I think she had cut me with that sword, but I just ignored it. In fact… It felt like something had taken hold of me. My body felt oddly num. What a strange feeling… It felt almost like I was dead or something. Just a wild exaggeration, though.

I reached out and grabbed Cirno by the neck, squeezing it with a crunch. Black fluid spurted from her mouth, coating the front of my shirt with its unholy color.

I watched with tremendous regret as the fairy thrashed around in my hand. She choked on the black fluid that now filled her mouth. I looked into those black orbs in her skull, trying to find those blue eyes that I knew were behind there somewhere. I wanted to see them so badly. Just one more time at least… Please…

But I could not find them. All I found was darkness looking back at me. Only the reflection of my own eyes looked back at me.

The poor girl was gurgling that black fluid, seemingly trying to speak. There was no need for her to speak now, though. She needed to be quiet now like a good girl.

"Oh, Cirno…You're too innocent to understand the nightmare we're all in. Please stay that way…" I said softly.

The fairy scratched at my arm as she desperately struggled to break away. She ripped my sleeve and even cut my skin with her nails, drawing blood. I'm sure she was in that blankness trying to fight her way out. I was sure of it. Cirno wouldn't give up that easily; not in a million years. But I needed to help her. I needed her help. I needed Marisa's help.

"I have to go now, Cirno…" I said in what might have almost sounded like a whisper. "You be a good girl, Cirno… and stay down."

With the struggling fairy in my grip, I took off flying towards the ground, picking up speed quickly as I went. Just before landing, I took Cirno and drove her into the ground. The ground shook beneath my feet as a small explosion of black flames erupted around me.

I stood silently while the dust settled and the black flames died out, looking down at the ground where Cirno's unconscious body should be, but… she was not there. I didn't bother looking for her. I knew, like the others, that she was far away from me now. As she should be.

With the fairy out of my mind, I looked forward towards my destination and started walking. I had let too much distract me from my mission. I need to get to the mansion and finish this.

I ignored the cold liquid running down my face and the blood that soaked the front of my shirt. I pushed the encounters that I had to the side and focused on one person and one person only.

Her eyes burned in my mind…

The numbness in my body vanished, and in its place came that burning pain from my heart. It was excruciating this time. So excruciating that it forced me to my knees. I clenched at my chest as the horrible pain coaxed me into letting out a howl. And boy, did I howl. I howled as loud as I could in hope that it would pierce this darkness and reach a friend's ear.

_Help us…_


	5. Chapter 5 Black Moon

I pushed myself through the forest, fighting back the pain that continued to pound in my chest. It was hard to move, hard to breath, hard to think straight. This pain just would not go away this time. But I kept my feet moving anyways. The sooner I get to that Devil's mansion the sooner I can end this darkness and this pain. I'm sure this pain would leave me be if I can just get there…

I tripped over a tree's root that stuck out of the ground. I staggered before falling to my knees. I tried to get back up, but the feeling of something tearing in my leg muscles kept me down. _Uhg! Don't do this to me now._ I bit my lip in preparation for more pain then forced myself to stand, feeling as if my muscles were being ripped from the bone. If something really did rip, I didn't really care. My power will heal it, but the pain would linger on for a while.

I ran as fast as my worthless legs would let me, but not even five feet from the first tree root was yet another one. And just as before, I tripped! This time I stumbled over it, catching the tree trunk before I went all the way down.

_Okay… This is a bit ridiculous. Calm down, Reimu… Calm the hell down for a second and focus._

My head was hurting now. _Ah, perfect. Just what I needed…_ From prolong overexertion or simple frustration with my own clumsiness, I didn't know which was the cause. Probably both.

I used the trunk of the tree to slowly pull myself up. I leaned up against it then took in one big, deep breath then exhaled. I wasn't going to get anywhere in my current condition. Trying to rush to my destination wasn't going to get me there any faster. I just need to try and relax. I'll need my strength when I get there after all. But going by my luck so far, I'm sure there were more possessed people out there wondering about, just waiting to get in my way and annoy me. I may as well just accept that fact.

Another deep breath. Another exhale. My chest felt a tiny bit better. Wonder how long that'll last…

I made my way through the forest, careful to watch where I stepped this time. The next thing to trip me was going to get two grades of spell cards. I don't care what it is.

I tried suppressing my thoughts as I walked, blocking out everything but the image of that red mansion. The less I think, the less pain I seemed to be in. But with every little reemergence of that night… It just brought the pain right back to its fullest. Why can't I just forget about it?

I stepped out of the crowded forest and into a small clearing. I made a quick scan of the area while listening for anything out of the ordinary. _Nothing…_ Seeing nothing of interest in the small field, I continued onwards. I believe I was coming to the lake soon. I hoped at least. I had been distracted so many times that I lost track of the distance I had traveled so far. At least I could feel at ease knowing that the mansion wasn't going to get up and go somewhere today.

A cold wind blew past, making me quiver. I hugged myself, teeth chattering. I snorted when I felt a little snot start to drip out. The chill in the wind really was far from that of the normal chill found in the fall. It was different from winter's chill as well. Much more of a nuisance.

It was that damn wind that kept me from sensing the appearance of two beings that appeared behind me. It was the sound of one of them yelling that got my attention.

"There! THERE! There she~ is, ma~ster~! We. FOUND! Her~!"

I quickly turned around, gohei in one hand and a spell card in the other, both ready to be used. I was just about to call out my spell, but when I saw who the two people were… my body just froze, and my headache grew worse.

I looked away from the dark pharmacist and her assistant in disgust. "Nn… N-Not you two… I don't… I don't want to see you. You're the last two people I want to see right now so just… just go away." I said, my voice trembling. "You two have poked and prodded me enough. I don't need a checkup. We're fine. Please, just… leave us alone."

"Reimu! What are you doing, Reimu?! Wha~t are~ you~ do~ing, Reimu~?! WHAT! ARE! YOU! DOI~NG?!" Reisen screamed, her accursed voice shaking what sanity I have.

I faced the black rabbit girl and glared at her, my fists tightening at my side as I grew angry.

"What does it look like I'm doing, huh?! I'm in the middle of solving an incident so would you kindly leave me the hell alone?!" I yelled.

Eirin stepped forward, her black eyes threatening to snatch my last breath away from me. It was awfully difficult to look at her directly, more so than the others. Not that I wanted to look at her to begin with, mind you. I was tired of seeing her and her assistant as it is.

The evil black shroud that covered her was more intense, more chaotic. It almost looked like a small storm of black clouds swirling wildly with Eirin as its center. The space around her also seemed to distort as she moved, like it was being pulled and smeared. This was bizarre, but I didn't really care about that. I just wanted her to go away. Just to stay away from me! To leave me alone!

"Stay away from me!" I shrieked as I backed away from the woman of darkness. "Ahg!" _The pain in my chest again!_ The burning pain put the squeeze on my heart. I clenched at my chest as if there was a hand of fire holding my heart to be pulled at.

The damned Lunarian continued her approach despite my insistence that she stay away from me. Is she deaf or something?

"I said stay away!" I shouted. "I told you that I'm preoccupied with something right now. I don't have time for you to look me over. We're fine! Perfectly fine!"

I was talking to the possessed again… How long will it take before I finally get that there's no point in trying to talk or try to reason with them? The only thing that needs to leave my lips is the name of one of my spell cards. What they say doesn't matter.

"REIMU~! Stay CA~LM!" Reisen bellowed.

The moon rabbit didn't appear to look anymore different than the previous possessed girls, but god damn it, she was loud.

"You shut up! Shut up right now!" I shouted at Reisen as I pointed at her. I was thinking my pointer finger would intimidate her and make her run off. I'm already sick and tired of her distorted voice. "I told you that I don't wanna see you! That also means I don't wanna hear you! So get out of here! Right now!"

My wrist was suddenly grabbed by Eirin. _When did she close the distance?!_ She squeezed it as she looked down at me with those horrid orbs. There was no insane grin on her face. Just a face of pure contempt. _Stop looking at me like that! Stop looking at me like I'm some child!_

Eirin then spoke. She spoke in such a dark and cruel voice that I forgot who it was that was speaking. No way was it the Lunarian. It just wasn't possible. I refuse to believe it.

"You… stupid… girl…" She said, her voice causing the air around us to tremble, my burning heart to sink. She squeezed my wrist harder, hurting me.

I glared back at those eyes. "I… I don't care what that woman says. I've had enough of your examinations. Now… If you please… Leave me alone so that I can get to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I have an incident to solve and no one will stand in my way." I said somewhat calmly.

"Stay calm, Reimu! Stay calm, Reimu! Stay calm, Reimu! We. Are. HERE! To. Help you~! There's NO nee~d to get UPSET! WE! ARE! YOUR! FRIENDS!" Reisen screamed.

"Like hell!" I screeched as I struggled to pull my hand out of the Lunarian's grip. "You're just going to hurt me again! Now leave me alone!"

With my free hand I formed a fist and threw it at the moon woman's face. She ducked, drew her own fist back and slammed it into my chest, knocking the wind out of me. _Damn it all! Every single time!_ She then grabbed me in a headlock.

The moon rabbit appeared in front of me, grinning freakishly down at me. "Be careful with her, MASTER! Don't hurt HER!" She shouted.

Reisen grabbed me by the sides of my head then rammed her knee into my face, crushing my nose.

"Ga~h!" I cried out from the painful crunch of my nose. Blood quickly gushed out from my nostrils and down over my mouth, with a good amount finding its way inside. _Oh, gods! It tastes awful!_

Reisen went for another knee to my nose, but I caught her knee. I swiped one leg underneath Eirin, knocking her legs out from under her and sending her to the ground. She pulled me down with her, and I brought the bunny girl down with us.

All three of us didn't stay on the ground for long. The second we hit the ground we leaped back up to our feet. I didn't get much distance between us, but it was good enough.

I pulled out a spell card, determined not to let this fight drag on for long. I have looked at these two's faces long enough. Even with my now watery eyes I could see them. I needed to make them disappear.

Eirin and Reisen copied my moves and pulled out a spell card. _Three spell cards in such a small space?!_

"Scattered Spirit "Fantasy Seal"!" I called out.

"Spread Sign "Moon. Of. TRUTH"!" Reisen screamed hers.

"Resurrection "Game of Rising"!" And Eirin bellowed hers.

All spell cards were declared, and a blinding light of many different colors was unleashed. An explosion of power came an instant later and I was sent flying backwards. I rolled up into a ball to try and brace myself as I crashed through a tree. I bounced off the ground, cannonballed into another tree then finally came to a painful halt.

Bruised, cut and bloodied, I got to my knees. I clenched my trembling teeth with mad intensity as I glared angrily at the ground.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" I yelled while punching the ground with each curse I spoke. "Every damn time! They get me every time! Because I, for some stupid reason, refuse to go all out! Why?! Why am I doing this to myself?!"

The more I tried to scream out my frustration and anger the more those feelings seemed to grow inside me. I punched at the ground over and over again until my fist began to bleed. I hated these two Moon denizens yet here I was, holding back all of my power.

Drops of blood and a clear liquid fell from my face and onto the ground.

"Uhg…" I groaned from the pounding in my skull and chest.

I know why I held back even when it was these two whom I was fighting with. It was because it wasn't their fault. They didn't do it because they wanted to. It was because of that blasted woman! And she was at the Scarlet Devil Mansion and I must get there no matter the costs!

Just as I stood up to get back into fighting posture, Eirin got the drop on me from above. She shoved me back down to the ground, pulled both of my arms back behind my back and pushed my face into the dirt, pinning me down.

"Enough FIGHITNG! Enough FIGHTING!" She screamed at me in that horrible voice.

I pulled my face out of the dirt in order to breath. I didn't bother looking back at the woman. It hurt too much to look at her and her assistant. Dare I say their faces hurt almost as much as that monster's face…?

_Oh gods, not again…_ My stomach acted up when that face came into mind. I'm sure I would have vomited again if I had anything left to vomit.

Reisen appeared in front of me, that creepy grin not failing to make my bones quiver. "REIMU! What is wrong, REIMU?! You are acting all CRAZY LI~KE!" She shrieked.

And I was just utterly offended by that comment.

I glared up at the black bunny girl, giving her my best death stare. "I'm not crazy! I'm just trying to solve an incident like I always do! YOU'RE the crazy ones! Getting in my way just because it's time for my checkup. Who the hell do you think you are, huh? That can wait! You can wait until I am done! Got it?!" I yelled.

"YELLING! Will not! Get you! ANYWHERES! REIMU~!" The screaming idiot said.

"Go choke on a carrot while drowning in a river, you accursed rabbit!" I yelled.

I concentrated my energy to the center of my chest. A second later and a blue barrier burst out from the ground, sending both me and the pharmacist into the air. I forced the moon woman off of me with a small burst of spirit energy then quickly stood up on the barrier. I spun on one foot, striking Eirin across the mouth, a splash of black blood flying off with the kick. I stepped down on the barrier then went into another spinning kick, striking Eirin a second time from the opposite direction. For my third attack, I grabbed a hold of the stunned woman's head, took my finely formed barrier, and slammed both together. Needless to say, Eirin's face was stronger than my barrier. The barrier shattered into pieces before dissolving completely. I formed another barrier and slammed it on top of Eirin. I drove her into the ground, crushing her beneath the magical barrier.

I didn't end it there. No sir, it was not going to end there! I clasped my hands together and poured my spirit energy into the center of my hands. I pulled them apart, creating a ball of spirit energy. With the energy ball in my hand, I leaped into the air and chucked it down upon the Lunarian. The ball exploded in sparkling blue flames on impact, engulfing Eirin in spiritual fire.

I landed softly away from where the explosion occurred. I stood with my eyes peeled and my ears at work. I'm not stupid. This was far from over. _Come on… Where are you?_

Reisen appeared behind me, and right on time she was.

"Please, Reimu! This kind of ACTIVITY is NOT good for YOU~!" She screamed.

It was then I decided I'd jam my gohei straight into her throat. Anything to keep her from screaming like that. Her voice was simply unbearable. I'm not mean for thinking like that, am I?

"DESOLATIO~N "Scars of Absent-MindedNE~SS"!" She annoyingly called out her attack.

I twirled around to face my assaulter then stomped on the ground, forcing a magical barrier from the ground to shield me from the incoming attack.

Reisen had her finger pointed at me like a gun. At the tip of her finger was where her energy was being drawn into. Quickly it gathered, and quickly it was fired once it was ready. A pinkish danmaku bullet was fired at me, but with my barrier, I wasn't worried.

The bullet exploded against the barrier. I grunted from the surprisingly powerful impact. A second bullet was fired at me. Like the first, it exploded upon contact with my shield and again I felt the force of the blast.

"Err… It's amazing how she's able to squeeze so much power into such a small danmaku. I can hear my bones rattle."

A third bullet and another explosion. Reisen stopped for a moment after the third, deciding to take a moment to charge up her fourth shot.

The second she was ready she pointed her glowing finger at me and fired a bullet twice as large as the others. _Uh-Oh!_ I leaped into the air, leaving my barrier to its fate. A large explosion went off below me, the blast nearly knocking me out of the sky. I hugged my legs to my chest and spun in the air, landing right in front of Reisen.

_Now it's my turn!_

Reisen pointed her finger at my forehead. I pushed her hand away just when she fired another shot. The bullet whizzed passed my ear. It nearly took it off! Darn rabbit!

I tilted my head forward and jumped, sending the top of my head plowing into Reisen's nose. I heard a crunch, and that crunch left a warm tingling feeling in my heart. I think they have a name for that feeling. What was it called? Oh yes… Revenge!

I tilted back then slammed my forehead into her nose just to be sure. I followed up with a hook shot to the side of her head. She stumbled backwards then lost her footing, falling to her bottom.

She wasn't knocked out yet so I wasn't going to stop my offensive, but I stopped when I noticed a shocking sight. Reisen almost looked as if she was crying. She was rubbing at her eyes as blackness oozed from them. _What the hell?_

"Wha… Why, Reimu?! WHY are you doing THI~S?! You are ONLY thinking of yourSELF! NOT! HERS!" Reisen screamed.

Then came the anger. I clenched my teeth. I clenched them as hard as I could. I lost myself at that moment. Lost myself to the rage. I stormed up to the downed rabbit, reached down and grabbed her by the neck. I lifted her off the ground and shook her.

"The hell you trying to say?! You stupid, stupid girl! Of course I'm thinking of her! I'm ending this entire thing right now so she doesn't have to ever go through what I had to go through! Now stay out of my way! I need to get to the mansion!" I screamed at the possessed girl.

I tried to reason with myself. Repeating the word 'possessed' over and over again in my head. The poor girl was possessed and didn't know what she was talking about. She didn't mean to say such an insensitive thing. There was no reason to get mad at her, right? No reason to hurt her, right? All I needed to do was put her down, and continue on towards the mansion. Forget this dumb girl and her dumb master. Forget them both. Forget about that woman. Forget about that night. Forget about that… that monster…

_But I can't!_

I squeezed the squirming girl's neck harder and harder. My nails digging into her skin, making them bleed that blackness. Even in my fit of anger I managed to get the crazy idea that if I squeezed hard enough then I could squeeze all of the darkness out from her and free her. Maybe it would work?

Reisen grabbed my wrists and kicked at me wildly as my grip continued to tighten around her neck. It looked like that her head would go pop any second now. I was angry yet playing humorous things in my head. I think I needed a drink.

Thankfully, I wasn't too far into my blind rage that I was able to sense an attack from behind. I quickly turned around and threw Reisen in front of me to use as my shield. A shriek from the rabbit girl, and the head of an arrow suddenly poked out from her chest. _Well, damn… That must of hurt like hell…_

A sudden explosion of dark flames engulfed Reisen and sent me to my rear-end. _The hell was that?!_ I jumped up to avoid an arrow then landed on my feet, prepared for the next enemy.

Through the black flames that covered the ground came Eirin. She held that bow of hers and a magical arrow readied to be launched. The hideous darkness of her eyes tore through me like a knife through a wet paper towel. I was still enraged, but I had this odd feeling that she was enraged as well. They always tend to get mad at me even though they were the ones to attack me first. It's always my fault with these people.

"REI~MU~! REI~MU~ HA~KU~REI~!" Eirin bellowed my name. The damn world around us seemed to shake!

She aimed her arrow at me and fired. I rolled to the left, dodging the arrow as it flew past me. The power it contained was immense. It blew apart the ground beneath it as it traveled through the air. Another arrow was launched towards me, forcing me into the sky. A large explosion left a crater on the ground where I once was.

As I flew high into the sky, a barrage of arrows was fired at me with reckless abandon. Each arrow was keenly aimed and were filled with an amazing amount of power. Eirin's mastery with the bow and arrow was truly out of this world. I would have liked for her to teach her one day…

Eirin came after me, never ending her barrage of arrows. I fired back at her with a hail of purification needles as I evaded and soon we found ourselves in a dog fight.

This reminded me of the last time me and Marisa had a little duel. Turned into a fight much like this except I was doing the chasing. Always found it to be awfully difficult to keep up with her. Every time I'd get close to her, she'd just take off out of sight. Wish I had her speed. Just for today.

_Where is she? Why isn't she here?_

I leaned to the left, narrowly dodging an arrow. The arrow flew onwards, exploding in front of me. It released a bright light, a light bright enough to burn my eyes.

I stop abruptly in midair. "Gah! My eyes! Damn you, Eirin! That's cheap!" I cursed out that woman as I rubbed at my eyes like crazy. I never expected her to use such a dirty way to fight.

In my blindness, I took a hard blow to the stomach, forcing the air right out of me. I clenched my teeth in hate and wildly tossed amulets in every direction, hoping to hit that blasted Eirin. I took a second punch to the back of the head and then a fist to the mouth. _Grah! I think she broke a tooth!_

I focused my power to my center, planning to release it into a shockwave to stave off my attacker, but the bitch gave me no time and landed a hard, downward punch to my head, sending me towards the ground.

I fell through a tree, the branches scratching and poking me before I slammed into the ground. I coughed and gaged as I struggled to breathe. The blinding white light was vanishing, being replaced with a spinning image of the forest. She hit me quite hard. Hard enough to knock my thought process off its tracks.

With a shaky body and a dizzy mind, I crawled to my knees, groaning from the pain. It was then an arrow struck me in the left hand, going right through it and into the ground. I let out a banshee's howl, cursing the woman murderously in my head. I went to grab the arrow so I could pull it out and free myself, but a second arrow took my right hand and pinned it to the ground like the left hand. I howled again, but I silenced myself by biting down on my tongue.

My eyes were filled with tears, which was a good thing. I didn't want to see the piss poor shape my hands were in now. Even if my power will heal the holes that were now in them, it was still a disgusting sight that I very much wanted to avoid seeing.

I pulled back, struggling to pull the arrows that pinned me from the ground. I stopped when I heard footsteps. I looked up, seeing the shadowy woman looking down at me. She had her bow with an arrow pointed right at my face. Call me crazy, but her enraged expression seemed to have vanished. Call me bat-shit insane, but it looked like she was frowning in sorrow. Damn this woman… I can almost see pity in those horrendously black eyes. Does she honestly think she understands my pain? Does she honestly think she has any idea how I felt?

"Reimu~…" She said in her dark voice, in almost a whisper. "You've gone… too far…"

My heart thumped loudly and painfully. "What? What the hell does that mean? Too far? I've gone too far? ME?! No! It was her! It was her fault! Not mine! Not MI~NE!" I screamed miserably at the Lunarian; screamed so loud that it felt like my throat had torn. "I know that I am the Hakurei Shrine Maiden. I know that there are rules and traditions that must be upheld. But that was too much!"

_Doesn't she understand?! Doesn't anyone understand?!_

Eirin said nothing. She just stood there, staring down at me like some kind of statue. She said nothing, and my rage only grew.

I was trembling like mad. Something was in me and it wanted out. I clenched my teeth and did what I could to keep myself from trembling so much.

"If you're just going to stand there in silence… then kindly step aside so I can go to the vampire's mansion. I… I have business there. I must go. This incident isn't going to solve itself." I said calmly.

Eirin slowly shook her head.

"Then so be it…" I said.

I bit down on my tongue and braced for the incoming pain. With the forceful pull of my arms, I tore the arrows out of the ground, freeing my badly hurting hands. Eirin released the bowstring, firing her arrow. I formed a barrier to shield me, but it wasn't enough. The arrow broke through it. I quickly opened my mouth then snatched the arrow with my teeth, my tongue receiving a deep cut from the bladed arrow. I crushed the arrowhead with a strong bite.

Eirin prepared another arrow, but I was quick to my feet and rushed for her. With a clenched fist, I delivered a spirit empowered punch into her gut. Black ooze exploded from her mouth, splashing across my face.

A spell card appeared from under my sleeve and into my hand. I stepped forward, threw the spell card into her chest and unleashed its power at pointblank range.

"Divine Arts "Demon Binding Circle"!" I shouted the spell cards name.

The card burned up in a bright purple flame. Eirin looked down with a frightful expression, right in time to see up close what my powers bring me. A purple spell circle formed underneath us, basking us with its glow. Eirin grabbed my hand, I guess to try and stop me, but I'm sure even she knew it was too late. The spell circle went into a rapid spin, unleashing its stored power. We were engulfed in a torrent of magical purple flames that shot up to the bleak dark sky, giving it some much needed color.

The spell came and went, and as the left over flames diminished, no one remained standing in front of me. Eirin was defeated. Another poor fool possessed by the evil darkness was gone. And I felt no relief or satisfaction whatsoever. I felt worse. I felt empty.

I stepped over the broken bow that Eirin left and continued onward with my lonely journey, murmuring to myself incoherently.

With all these fights with the possessed, I started to wish that this cruel darkness had taken me and left someone else untouched to solve this incident. I just wanted to go home. Go home and forget about everything. Why must it be so hard to forget some things? If I could only just forget, then none of this would be happening.

I shook my head roughly, slapped myself across the face, open palm first then backhand. I breathed in deeply and exhaled. I forced a stern expression and kept my eyes looking forward.

"Get a grip, Reimu… This is just another incident just like any other, Reimu… There's nothing to fret about, Reimu…" I said, continuing to lie to myself.

After this is over, me and Marisa are going to have a real danmaku duel. And then some tea. I'll even let her make it this time if she wants to, though I know I'd regret it if I did.

I got myself to laugh. A nice little laugh to calm the nerves. The laugh couldn't have come at a better time. I was really thankful for it. It was nice.

I kept on laughing. I laughed and soon I forgot what I was laughing about and I continued to laugh even after that. I laughed as a cold liquid rolled down the sides of my face and I continued on my way; the way to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. There I will be able to put an end to this darkness. Once I find her… it'll all be over.


	6. Chapter 6 Cursed Nature

"Ew~…" I whined a little as I walked with my head hung low, not really paying attention to my surroundings.

The smell of blood and sweat had gotten bad. Just another reason why I wanted to go straight home. I really needed to get out of these ruined clothes and into a hot bath. A hot bath would be so nice right now. I would just lay there and clear my mind of everything while the water cleaned away the filth. But it would not clear away the one thing I desperately needed to go away: that memory, the accursed faces of those demons. No amount of holy water could wash away that night. Only I could do that by means of extermination.

I shook my head to try and stave away the creeping memories. I can't have them being my focus right now. I got other things to do.

_The lake should be close now. I hope…_

After a little more walking, my prayers were answered. The Misty Lake. And about god damn time too. That pale blue water and its mist covered surface never looked so good. It was a very welcomed sight. Now all I needed to do was fly to get to the other side. Just beyond all that mist was my destination: The Scarlet Devil Mansion. And within the red stone walls of that mansion was my long awaited target. The heated blood in my heart boiled the more I thought about her.

I looked up into the dark sky. The black clouds were flowing from beyond the lake, right where the mansion was located. That alone was proof of where my target was. No need for any other kind of verification.

Flying to the mansion was going to be difficult for sure. I still ached all over. My muscles were sore, my chest still burned and my head wouldn't stop pounding. The only thing not bothering me at the moment was my stomach. I think it finally decided it had bullied me enough for one day. I'll make up with it once I'm finished with my work. I promise.

I stood where I was for a while, just staring at the steady water while I built up the strength to fly. The wind blew softly through my messy hair, pushing it away from my face for me. I'm not sure just how long I stood there and stared, but I could tell you it was for too long. Much too long.

The blurred reflection of a dark figure in the water eventually appeared, making me tense up and my heart to beat faster. Just seeing that dark figure did something to me at that moment; undid something. I'm not sure what, but something just broke in me. Something broke, and I just started to cry.

The cold tears came with full force. "Uhg… Hic… No… No, why…? I… I don't understand… Uu…" I cried, the tears making me shiver more than the evil wind ever did.

I stood and cried as I stared back at the being of darkness. It hurt so much to see that particular person covered in that dark shroud. I hated looking at her, but I couldn't tear my eyes away. Call it self-punishment or something.

"Hic… Why? Why did this happen? Just why?" I asked the person in the water pitifully.

I knew the answer to that question but I still asked myself over and over again, as if I expected the answer to change or something. The reason why was because of that damn woman. It was all her fault. She was the reason that person staring up at me was covered in that vile darkness. If I could just get to her I could free that girl in the water of that darkness as well as everyone else. She was so close. Just on the other side of the lake. But I couldn't get myself going. I continued to cry.

I didn't want to turn around and see the awful state of the person behind me was in with my own eyes. I've seen enough possessed people for one life time. I wish they would just leave me be. To just leave me alone. But I didn't want to be alone…

I cried as I waited for the person behind me to speak. I waited for the painful voice I knew was coming. I waited and indeed it came, but it came in a way that shocked me. It managed to suppress my weeping, but only by a little.

"Reimu…? Is that you, Reimu? Why are you crying, girl?" The voice of a woman said.

This voice was different from all the rest. It was not a demonic voice of the corrupted. Not a voice that would vibrate painfully in my ear. Nor did it make my body shake uncontrollably. It was far from being any of those things. Instead… It was completely normal. Sweet… beautiful… soothing… and normal…

I turned around, and what I saw then was impossible to describe. Well… No, it was easy to describe. But with everything that had happened, with all of the darkness covering the world… To see the darkness nowhere at all… was mystifying.

_What… is going on?_

A green haired woman stood in front of me. She held a parasol, looking at me with her red eyes. It was Yuuka! Yuuka Kazami! This might seem weird coming from me but… I was never so happy to see her before in my life. I was equally happy and stunned to see her. Happy because she wasn't covered in that enslaving darkness like the others. Stunned… because she wasn't covered in that enslaving darkness like the others.

I looked Yuuka over, not completely convinced that she was free of any dark shroud. I looked as hard as I could, but I could find no trace of any blackness clinging to her.

I then studied the area around us. The darkness… really was gone. All gone. The autumn sky was filled with your normal gray clouds. The trees were filled with red leaves and green leaves and yellow leaves. It was wonderful, really. To not see only shades of black and gray covering the land was really incredible. Everything appeared as it should. And it only made me cry harder.

Yuuka was looking at me with a glum face. I must look awfully pathetic in her eyes right now. Reimu Hakurei, crying like a stupid little girl. Could I seriously look anymore pathetic? I would really like to know.

Yuuka let out a sigh. "Well… Can't say I didn't see this coming. Though… I didn't expect it to be you. I was thinking it would happen a little further in the future. But… Oh well… What's done is done I guess." She said with the shrug of her shoulders.

"Yuu… Yuuka… You're okay… Hic…" I said as I sobbed, sounding miserable. I tried to wipe my tears away on my bloody sleeve, but they were just replaced with new tears.

"Hm? What is it, Reimu? If you have something you want to say then out with it."

"I… I don't know what to do, Yuuka… The darkness… I need to purge the darkness but…"

Yuuka stared at me for a moment, probably condemning me in her head. I deserve it. I deserve whatever ridicule she decides to give me. I was ready for it. I think…

She sighed again. She's annoyed with me. I know she is. I just know it.

"Let's go for a little stroll along the lake, shall we?" She asked me with a kind smile, and not that creepy kind smile she usually gives me either.

I didn't expect her to ask that so color me surprised, but I wasn't about to complain. I said nothing. I merely covered my tear soaked face with my hands and nodded my answer.

Yuuka took the lead. I followed behind her, whimpering as I tried to get my tears under control. I watched her, trying to figure out what she was thinking. Only bad things of me, surely. There's nothing good she could be thinking of that involves me. Not now at least. Not after all that has happened. She knows about it. I know she knows about it and she knows that I know. It was definitely something that is never announced or anything, but since it involves the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, certain youkai would easily find out for themselves. Yuuka, obviously, being one of them. Did she understand how I was feeling? Could she know, being a youkai and all? I wanted to ask her myself, but I was too scared. Too ashamed. Too angry…

"Oof!" While lost in my thoughts, I accidently bumped into Yuuka when she suddenly stopped. I backed away and immediately apologized with a bow. "S-Sorry…"

Yuuka didn't say anything. She didn't even react to me walking into her. She was looking out at the Misty Lake. I looked too and was instantly drawn to it. I wanted to jump in even if it would be freezing. I'm too filthy and disgusting right now to care about the cold.

"It's such a beautiful day isn't it, Reimu? For the fall, I mean." Yuuka said to me.

I kept my eyes on the water. I just didn't want to make eye contact with Yuuka while my face was a wreck. I continued to wipe my face on my sleeve. I'm sure I was just smearing all the tears, dirt and blood around, but that didn't stop me.

I nodded my head. "It is…" I answered weakly.

"Goodness, girl…"

A handkerchief was presented in front of my face. I looked up at Yuuka to see a sincere smile. The tears started to pick up steam again, so I quickly took the handkerchief and pressed it against my miserable face.

"Go on. You don't have to return it so use it well." She said.

I did as she said and blew my nose hard into the handkerchief. I drenched the handkerchief with snot, tears and filth. It was so disgusting I had to hold onto it by a loose thread.

"Feel better now?" I was asked.

I snorted then rubbed my nose on my sleeve. "No…" I answered haggardly.

"Hmm…" Yuuka nodded and faced the lake. "How is little Marisa? I hadn't seen her since… Well, you know…"

I answered by shaking my slumped head. I felt pain when Marisa's hurt face flashed in my head. _All that blood…_

"Hmm… She did take a nasty hit. But it's not like she died or anything so it's okay." Yuuka said.

"It's not!" I shouted then went into a coughing fit. That one shout hurt my throat and the coughing was making it hurt more.

A hand was softly placed on top of my head. Feeling a kind hand helped calm me down a bit and my coughing ceased. I took a few deep breaths before saying anything. Yuuka remained quiet herself as she waited for me to collect myself.

"I don't know… I don't know what to do, Yuuka." I said.

"You don't? It sure looks like you've made up your mind already." Yuuka said.

"Isn't there another way? Why did it have to come to this?" I asked, and Yuuka bonked me on the head. "Ow~…" I whimpered.

"Why do you ask questions you already know the answer to? Don't waste my time." She said, sounding angry.

"I never asked to be a Hakurei Shrine Maiden…"

"Mm hm. None of you did. Not you, not your mother, not your grandmother. Not a single one of you asked or was asked to. You just were." Yuuka said. With a sigh, she closed her parasol up and placed the tip into the ground, standing up straight and looking out beyond the lake. "And yet, you all still carried that burden."

The tears were coming back. I fought to keep them back with everything I had. Yuuka has seen me cry enough. I don't want to annoy her any more than I already did.

"I don't want to anymore. I'm tired of it." I stated.

"You've made that quite clear already, Reimu."

A little anger flared up in me and I glared at Yuuka. "It's not because I hate Gensokyo, okay?! I love this land!" I ended up yelling.

"But you love somebody more…" Yuuka said as she turned her eyes to me. "Right?"

And the tears forced their way out. I covered my face to spare Yuuka more of this disgusting sight and tried to sob quietly so she didn't have to hear it.

I felt a hand touch my stomach. I uncovered my eyes to see Yuuka's hand there. I looked up at her to see her smiling again. I liked seeing her smile and all, but it just made me want to cry more. It was a double edged sword.

"So… Have you decided with a name?" She asked.

The question was sudden, yet not all that surprising. It was kind of funny actually; the look she had. I could tell she was trying to hide how eager she was to know. But unfortunately, I had to disappoint her.

I sadly shook my head. "No… I haven't."

As expected, Yuuka frowned big time. "I see…" She sighed as she removed her hand. "You stupid girl…"

I bit down on my teeth and was about to shout back at her for the unneeded insult, but I refrained. I should of though. She deserved to be chewed out for the out-of-the-blue insult.

"Do you even know how far along you are?" She asked.

I bit down on my teeth harder. I couldn't answer her. To know how many months it's been is to remember that night. I didn't want to remember that night. How far do I have to go to get that memory erased?

Yuuka huffed. She sounded like she was getting mad. "It sounds like you don't even care about her…"

My fist flew. I swear it knew what to do before I even commanded it to. It flew so fast that I didn't even see it strike Yuuka in the side of the face. All I saw was her stumbling backwards from the hit.

"How dare you!" I screamed as I went to punch her again. My fist flew, but I stumbled over my own feet, allowing Yuuka to catch my fist. "How dare you, Yuuka! How dare you say that!" I screamed again, my tears running down my enraged face.

My teeth were clenched to the extreme. I used my other fist to strike Yuuka, but she caught that one too. She held onto me as my eyes stared intensely at her feet, my body shaking from the hatred.

I saw it then; a piece of darkness wrapping around Yuuka's feet, growing slowly the longer I stared at it. It grew, and so did the agonizing fire in my heart.

"Calm down, Reimu." Yuuka ordered strongly.

"I hate her, Yuuka!" I wailed as I struggled to free myself from Yuuka's grip. "I hate her! I hate her!" I was screaming faster than I could pull air into my lungs to scream with, causing me to cough and gag some.

"I know you do, Reimu." She said, trying to sound calm while she held me. _Just let me go!_

"She just stood there! She stood there!"

I yanked and pulled at my arms, but she held on tightly. She always was powerful. Her physical strength was immense. Even oni tipped their hats to her.

"I know she did. I know."

"Why, Yuuka?! Why was I never told about it?! Why was it kept from me until that night?! Why?! Why?!"

"Tradition, Reimu. That's all it is is tradition. It's how our world even exists. How it remains to exist. It's sick, I know. Trust me, I know."

With her youkai strength, Yuuka shoved me to the ground. I landed on my butt hard. It really hurt. She stood up straight, brushed her hands on one another and breathed in deeply.

"I never agreed with it. Not once since I learned about the process." She said. She looked away from me, her fists on her hips as she seemed to go into deep thought. "A great responsibility is thrown on your back and you don't even get to choose… It pisses me off…"

Sniffling, I slowly got back up to my feet. I was breathing heavily as I tried to get my temper back down to manageable levels, but I struggled to do so. "I'm angry, Yuuka… I felt… betrayed that night." I said.

Yuuka faced me, her expression stern, but strangely there was sorrow behind that sternness. She nodded. "As you should. But… you're letting your rage blind you, Reimu… You're hurting the wrong people. More importantly… You're hurting her." She said.

I didn't know what she was talking about. I never laid a hand on anyone since that night. Hell, I hardly if ever left the Shrine. I just stayed inside and remained alone most of the time. The first fight I had been in since then was with Suika at the arrival of the dark mist. I think Yuuka is just being weird like always.

"What are you saying, Yuuka?" I asked her with a little, friendly, and forced, laugh. "I have only defended myself from all those possessed by the darkness. I've only hurt people when forced to. I've only ever hurt people when I was left with no other alternative. You know that, right? Right, Yuuka?"

Yuuka blinked a few times. She seemed confused with what I said. "Darkness?" She asked.

"Yes! The darkness!" I shouted accidently.

I had to move our conversation to the darkness and away from that night. I was tired of thinking about it. I was beginning to feel sick to my stomach again the longer we kept on that subject. I didn't even want to talk about it to begin with. Getting to the mansion was more important right now.

The dark mist might not be here now, but I knew it was still out there. I could feel it. I still needed to purge the world from its evil grasp. And I now had someone who could help me! It wasn't Marisa, but Yuuka would still be of great help. I know she will be reluctant since it's not her job, but I had to try asking. I hoped she would lend me a hand and say yes. I don't think I could handle a rejection right now…

"Now… Please don't laugh, but… I need your help. We both know who released the evil mist so could you assist me? At least until we get to the mansion? Fighting the possessed has been draining. So please… Help me." I said, trying to give her my best puppy eyes.

Yuuka looked stunned for a split second. Then the sorrow showed on her face and she looked away, as if she couldn't bear to look at me anymore. Was I really that pathetic that she couldn't even look at me? If she was going to say no then she should just say it, not make me feel worse than I already did. She made it sound like she understood me but now I'm really beginning to wonder.

"You're too far gone…" Yuuka said, sounding awfully sad.

What she said went right over my head. "Huh?" I stared at the youkai, confused.

"You're just trying to fool yourself…" She said.

"I… I don't get what you're saying, Yuuka."

Yuuka went silent as she turned around and began walking. I wanted to follow her, but my feet refused to obey me. I was forced to watch as she walked away from me. _No! Please!_

I reached out for her. "N-No… Please don't leave me alone…" I started to cry again. I'm the text book definition of pathetic.

Yuuka stopped where she was, sighed, and turned back around to face me. Thankfully, her sorrowful expression was gone. Kind of… She hid it behind a smile.

"So this is how it ends, huh? Oh well. We had a good run, I think." She said.

"Wha-What? What are you saying? Don't say such things, Yuuka." I urged.

"No. It's fine this way. I enjoy Gensokyo as much as anyone, but I despise the way it was created and how it's maintained. I'm sure if it wasn't you to bring the end to that damn woman…" She said as she held her closed parasol out at an angle and pointed at the ground. She glared at me, her red eyes glowing. "Then it would have been me."

_She's getting into her fighting stance… Why is she getting into her fighting stance?! Why?!_

I was trembling, scared of the look Yuuka was giving me. I knew that look too well and today it terrified me. "Yu-Yuuka…? W-What are you doing?" I asked in a shaky voice.

Yuuka chuckled. _Don't do that! You're freaking me out!_

"The only thing left for me to do, little Reimu." She said and flashed me that unique grin of hers.

I slowly shook my head from side to side. "No… No, Yuuka. I don't want to. I don't want to fight with you. Not today. Please, not today." I begged her.

"I can't just let my lost friend continue on such a destructive path. Not when she's endangering the innocent one at least. The only thing I can do is to stand in your way."

"No! Don't get in my way, Yuuka! Please, don't!" I yelled my desperate plea.

She smiled at me, a sad smile, and shook her head. "Sorry, Reimu. But you know me. I won't go away without a good 'ol fight."

"I don't want to fight you! Please, Yuuka~!" I screamed.

"But you must, Reimu. If you wish to put an end to all of this to keep anyone else from feeling your pain then you must continue to fight till the bitter end!" She shouted and pointed her parasol at me.

"No! Don't!" I screamed, but my voice was overtaken by a sudden blast of wind that came seemingly out of nowhere.

The evil wind brought with it the dark mist. It crashed over us like a tsunami, covering the land around us with its taint once again. The sky went black and the leaves of the trees had their color torn from them. I was again placed in the nightmarish world.

I watched in terrible fright as a dark shroud spun wildly around Yuuka's feet. I stood petrified as the evil shroud wrapped around the youkai, latching itself to her and turning her into one of the dark possessed. Her red eyes were snuffed out by the blackness, leaving only orbs of darkness to stare back at me with cruelty.

I swung my gohei wildly at the air. "No~!" I screamed at the malevolent darkness, screamed as loud as I could. "No~! Leave her alone! She's done nothing wrong! She's done nothing!"

My heart turned to scorching fire, sending boiling blood throughout my veins again. I screamed wretchedly as I clenched at my chest in pain and suffering. My ears suffered the worst once the dark flower youkai spoke in her dreaded voice.

"FI~GHT ME~, REIMU~! FI~GHT LIKE YOU'VE NEVER FOUGHT BEFORE~!"

I don't know which it was that blew my vision away: her soul-shattering howl or the devastating beam of ghostly light she unleashed from the tip of her parasol…?


	7. Chapter 7 Screams of Anger

Pain. Pain was all that I could feel. A searing kind of pain that left not one part of my body untouched. I couldn't even feel the collisions I made with a few trees. I didn't even realize that one had fallen on top of me until my vision finally stopped spinning. I pushed the heavy tree off of me, crawled up onto all fours then vomited blood onto the ground.

_Something just had to come up, didn't it…?_

A loud ringing persisted in my ears and mind as I slowly made it to my feet. Yuuka was as brutal as ever. One blast, a few punches and a throw all in the span of like a second or something like that. And the thing that scares me... is that she's barely trying to hurt me. All she has to do is move and the pain will come to her foes naturally.

With one hand over my stomach and the other on the trunk of a tree for support, I looked around in search of my attacker, but my vision was still screwed up. The dark world wasn't spinning in circles, but it was completely out of focus. I'd stare out in one direction just to see everything move away from me then pull back over and over. Made me queasy.

I think I took a strong blow to the head because I began to hallucinate. I started seeing myself just walking around aimlessly in the forest with friends next to me. On the left of the other me was Marisa, smiling and talking up a storm. On my right was a little one, Rumia, who just pretended to understand what Marisa was saying and nodded. She always did that. I know because I did that too sometimes when I was clueless to whatever it was that Marisa was talking about. It would usually involve the things she does as a magician. I never understood that stuff, though from a lack of trying I'd admit.

I watched the other me and my two friends walk by and, weirdly, I started to envy that other me, envying that content smile she had. That's all I wanted to be doing right now; walking around without a care in the world with friends. It used to be like that. It wasn't too long ago it was like that. It isn't like that anymore. It could have still been like that… if only that damn woman hadn't done what she did. If she had only listened to my pleas and not forced me to-

My hand went over my mouth the second something started to come up. I hunched over, prepared to puke whatever was left in my stomach. My stomach really hurt, but my heart was hurting more. Its burning seemed to be everlasting. But of course it will be. It will be unless I get to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. And I was so close… It was only on the other side of the lake. If I could just get there. If only I could just get there!

The sound of a twig snapping underneath a footstep behind me and then the voice of what I wish I could say was a demon, but it was something much worse.

"What… are you… DOING… Rei. Mu. Hak. U. REI~!" Yuuka said distortedly. Not a trace of her voice was left. It was corrupted to its fullest. Dark and malevolent to the core.

I forced myself to face her though it didn't take much. I pretty much have accepted at this point that the only way to the mansion was through Yuuka. I just wished so badly that it wasn't so…

Yuuka's signature grin never looked so terrifying. The darkness that held onto her so desperately only magnified her terror. Those black eyes… Those dreadful black eyes were everything my fears were, second only to that nightmarish night.

"Don't just stand there like a big DUMMY, Reimu~. Come. FIGHT! Do NO~T make me kill you BO~TH so EASILY~!" Yuuka shrieked as she approached, putting me further into a daze. I nearly passed out.

She grabbed me by the throat with one hand, effortlessly lifted me off my feet then slammed me up against the trunk of a tree. I grabbed her wrist and struggled to break her grip, but it was futile. She was just too powerful! Far too powerful, even for me!

"WHAT ARE YOU DOI~NG, REI~MU~!" Yuuka screamed then slammed my back against the tree a second time. "Don't hold back on MY account!"

I scratched and pulled at her arm in desperation. I couldn't breathe. Not even a little. Yuuka squeezed just enough to not break my neck. She easily could if only she squeezed just a sliver more. She could kill me right now, but she wouldn't just be killing me. But isn't that fine? Isn't it better than letting her go through the exact same nightmare as I did? As my descendants did?

"I was THERE, REIMU~! I was THERE! Those youkai who knew were THERE! We stood there TOO! We STOOD outside gritting our TEETH with our FISTS at our sides as it HAPPENED! And not a SINGLE ONE of us did ANYTHING to stop it! Because we knew we would be getting in the WAY of our own continued EXISTE~NCE! We STOOD there foolishly thinking we could PUNISH OURSELVES by sharing your SUFFERING! To REDEEM ourselves of the GUILT! But we failed! WE FAILED! All we did was ABONDONED YOU, REIMU! We left you alone! WE LEFT YOU ALL ALONE, REIMU!"

Yuuka's horrific scream was a scream that could give birth to the most furious of natural disasters. It made my ears bleed badly and nearly destroyed my consciousness. Her words were needles and pins, puncturing my already bleeding heart. What she said made me realize even more of the twisted reality that was hidden from us under a veil of happiness and content. I couldn't bring myself to hate everyone. I never could. Like them, I too thought I would be willing to do anything to protect Gensokyo's continued existence. To sacrifice anything.

But I… was wrong…

"All except… for one, Reimu…" Yuuka said in a much, much quieter voice. As distant as it was, I almost heard her real voice.

I stopped struggling and just dangled there in her grip. I knew exactly who she spoke of and I didn't want to hear it.

_Don't say it, Yuuka… Don't say her name… Not now…_

"Marisa…" she said, and I wept.

My best friend… Marisa was hurt so badly because of what she did. What she tried to do. I haven't spoken to her since it happened. Only because it hurt too much to see her face… her injury… Thinking about it only made me sick. Made me angry. Made me hate. So I… tried to forget about it and went as far as ignoring Marisa whenever she tried to visit. I never let her in and just made her stand outside until she finally gave up and left. I cried every single time I did that.

I try so hard to push that night as far back as I possibly could, but it would always come back. Even now it distracts me from my current objective. I swear it was actively trying to stop me from solving this incident. I can't allow it! I won't let it stop me from getting to the mansion! It will finally disappear when I get there!

And the worst thing about that memory constantly hounding me was that it was making me care less and less about the dark mist.

"Are you angry… Reimu?" Yuuka asked me, her black eyes staring deeply into mine. "If so… then stop being a crybaby. You can beat me so easily, Reimu… With all of that anger. You hate me, after all… Right?"

I shook my head wildly at her absurd statement. I didn't want to hurt Yuuka. I didn't want to hurt anyone! I just wanted to get to the Scarlet Mansion so I can end this darkness! This darkness won't fade until then! Everything will turn back to normal if I can just get there! Why won't anyone understand that?! Why won't they just stay out of my way?! Why won't they just leave me the hell alone?!

"Don't make me destroy you, Reimu~."

My heart beat faster and painfully. My heart beat harder and angrier. My heart desired nothing more than to get to that mansion… even if I have to destroy all those who got in my way. It was breaking down any sense of self control I had, or whatever was left of it.

Once the burning in my chest became too much for me to bear, I howled into the dark sky, howled so loud that I hoped the accursed gods heard me. I tightened my grip around Yuuka's hand and with a sudden burst of power I broke her hold on my neck then kicked her right in the gut. The second my feet touched the ground I slapped a spell card on Yuuka's face.

"Prayer "Exorcism"!" I declared the spell.

My spell card exploded into a shower of red amulets that burned in orange fire. The spells explosive release blasted Yuuka backwards. She flipped through the air, but landed right back on her feet. She grinned at me, not at all looking like she was in any kind of pain even after taking a spell card directly to the face. Makes a person wonder if Yuuka really was just a youkai or something else entirely.

"ATT'A GIRL, REI~MU~!" Yuuka screamed then pulled out a spell card.

_Oh god, here it comes._

"Flower Sign "The Reflowering of Gensokyo"!"

A cluster of yellow, flower-shaped danmaku was unleashed. I quickly created a blue barrier in front of me in response to the yellow wall of danmaku coming towards me. I know what Yuuka wants me to do; she wants me to go on the defensive and flee from her shower of danmaku so she could have fun hunting me down, but I wasn't going to play her game. I have absolutely no time for games now. I have to end this as quickly as I can by doing the most stupid thing ever and fight the flower youkai head on.

With my barrier sat right in front of me, I got into ramming pose then charged forward, pushing the shield directly into the wall of danmaku. I crashed into the danmaku wall shield first, grunting from the strong collision, but I continued onward. My barrier quickly began to crack as I pushed forward, forcing me to expend some of my energy to keep it from breaking prematurely. I just need it to last me long enough to get through the cluster of bullets and towards my foe. But it was cracking faster than I could repair it, but thankfully I was able to plow through to the other side just as it shattered. And right in front of me was the black flower, grinning at me and prepared.

"Fighting ME in close comba~t?! Your rage really HAS changed you! REI~! MU~!" Yuuka yelled.

I tried biting my tongue to keep from speaking out of anger, but my anger got the best of me and I shouted, "That night changed me!" I spoke the very words that I've been fighting so hard to deny ever since it happened.

I charged my right fist with spirit energy then threw it towards Yuuka's head. My fist was caught midway by the root of a plant that burst from the ground. It wrapped around my arm, but I incinerated it with my power. I immediately flowed into my next attack by spinning on the heel of one foot. I went to strike Yuuka with a spinning kick, but she managed to catch me by the foot, and with just one hand I might add.

"Close, but NOT close enough!" Yuuka taunted loudly. "Release your ANGER, Reimu~! DON"T keep it bottled up! PUNISH ME FOR GETTING IN YOUR WA~Y!"

With just the single swing of her arm, Yuuka sent me flying through the forest. I crossed my arms in front of me, shielding my head as I smashed through one tree after another. It was barely a few seconds before I found myself flying over Misty Lake.

I hit the top of the lake and bounced across it a few times before stopping myself. With my ruined clothes now soaked, I hovered there above the lake's surface, the tip of my toes just barely touching the water.

As I expected, a beam of pure energy was what came first from the forest. It travelled across the lake's surface and towards me. I know this trick also. I know this trick far too well. Is Yuuka taking me for a fool? Or does she think I'm not strong enough right now to put up a fight? The fool has forgotten that I am still the Hakurei Shrine Maiden. Even if I hate being it, I can't change the fact that I am. I was damned to that fate before I was even born.

I formed a purple, stronger barrier in front of me, letting the powerful beam crash into it. My muscles burned intensely from trying to hold the beam back. They shouted at me for release, but their shouts were blocked out by someone else's crying and screaming. MY crying. MY screaming. And those too were ignored by that woman. No matter how loud I cried, no matter how hard I screamed, she just stood there. She stood there and watched me as I was hurt, as that sick 'ritual' went on. No one came to save me as I wailed in anguish. No one… No one at all, but one… And she was hurt because of it. Because of me.

I guided my barrier upward, sending the beam straight up into the black sky. I used the same barrier to block a second beam. I pushed the beam off to my left, sending it into the lake's mist. A third beam came, and I sent that one to my right. Yuuka can shoot those beams all day. I won't back down!

A shadow was suddenly cast over me. I gasped then quickly looked up to see Yuuka flying down towards me. "Yuuka!"

"Time. For. A. SWIM!" she yelled as she threw a fist towards me.

I used my barrier to block, but she busted through it with her powerful punch. Her fist struck me across the face, sending me straight down into the cold depths of the lake. Everything went black all around me. I couldn't even see where the surface was after I came to a stop. I was honestly surprised that I didn't hit the bottom of the lake. Now I was wondering just how deep the lake was. The thought never crossed my mind until now.

The water was freezing, but the raging fire in my heart kept me warm. On alert, I looked around me hastily, trying to see what direction Yuuka was coming from. I know she's down here, I could feel her movements in the water.

A bubble floated up past my face. I looked down in time to see four large plant roots spring up all around me from the darkness. One immediately went for me, but I blasted it with a charged amulet. Another managed to wrap around my arm and squeezed, nearly crushing my bones into dust. I channeled my power into my arm then unleashed a wave of blue spirit energy, incinerating the root. The third and fourth came from the sides and tried to wrap around me, but I grabbed them each. With both roots in my hands, I went into a spin, ripping them from the ground that spawned them. I threw them to the side and let them sink to the deep bottom.

Yuuka was playing around with me. I hate it when she does that, and this was a bad time to be playing around with me; for her I mean.

The second I felt her presence behind me, I turned around and caught the fist she threw. The force of her fist crashing into my palm sent out a wave that created an air bubble around us for a brief moment. She looked at me with a stunned expression; stunned from the fact I was able to catch one of her powerful punches, but that expression was quickly replaced with an arrogant grin. She tried to punch me with her other fist, but I caught that one with my other hand, another air bubble forming for a second around us from the impact.

Squeezing tightly, I held onto her fists with all of my strength. And my strength grew. It grew as the agonizing pain in my chest grew. The water around us even started to boil from my power.

Gritting my teeth, I stared into Yuuka's black eyes. In those black eyes I could see the times we spent together. She always liked to show up at the most inconvenient of times and start a fight with me and Marisa. She really did love her fights, didn't she? I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy fighting with her. She always managed to make the fights both intense and fun at the same time.

It wasn't intense or fun this time, though. This time… it was just me fighting a shadow of Yuuka, a shadow that needed to be destroyed by light, a light that only I could create in this dark world, with a light spawned from the flames of anger. I just wished someone else could create a light for me to help relieve me of this lonesome darkness. But that'll never happen…

I started to gather my power into the center of my chest, the power scorching my veins as it travelled through them, the water boiling crazier the more my power increased. In reaction to my surge of power, Yuuka yanked and pulled as she tried to break out of my grip, but I squeezed with all my might, determined not to let her go.

Suddenly, she stopped.

Yuuka stared back into my eyes, her dark grin nowhere to be seen. Behind all of that darkness covering her was a sad expression. I couldn't understand why she looked like that. I didn't know why and it only made me more angrier. I thought that maybe she was giving up, but that would be preposterous. Yuuka would never do such a thing.

Her lips moved, as if she was trying to talk to me while underwater. I read her lips. It was weird. I think she said, "I can't see your… beautiful eyes anymore… Reimu…" I just don't understand. I just don't understand anything anymore. Why would she say that? What the hell does she mean by that?

Her lips moved more. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," is all she was saying. She kept repeating it as her gaze seemed to no longer be on my eyes. What the hell is the matter with her? Why is she looking so guilty?

_It wasn't your fault! It wasn't your fault! It was'nt your fault!_

Yuuka's lips moved nonstop, repeating the same thing over and over again. As she continuously apologized to me for whatever reason, a strange, glowing liquid appeared from one of her eyes. It was the strangest thing I had ever seen up until now. It appeared to be a liquid, looked as if she was crying even, but the liquid looked like it was light. It shined even through that dark shroud clinging to her, a flickering kind of light. I watched as that strange liquid light rolled down her face. I've never seen Yuuka cry before and if this is the way she would look when she cries then I never want to see it.

As I stared at those shining tears, my anger turned to rage. And in that rage I lost myself and started screaming at her. The fact that we were underwater didn't stop me from screaming. I bet she could still hear me regardless because of how loud I screamed. Not that it mattered if she could hear me or not, all I did was scream curses and unintelligible words at her in a desperate bid to drain myself of all this rage and hate that had built up over the months since that night.

I was so busy screaming that I didn't even realize the amount of power that I had built up in my chest. My spell materialized without me even noticing. Green, red and blue spheres of shining light circled around me. Not only was I unaware of my attack, but Yuuka seemed to be as well, as she continued to just mutter the same words of apology over and over again.

She was consumed with so much guilt. I wanted to tell her that I didn't blame her, that I didn't blame anyone other than that woman, but I was too lost in my fury to tell her. I had lost any control I had.

Ever since that night I wondered if I ever had any kind of control over my life, over my very existence, or was I really just a puppet to be used and discarded once I lived out my usefulness? It didn't matter now, I suppose. Now I was just a puppet to my own anger, to my own hatred, to this lonesome darkness.

With a scream from the darkest pits of hell, my spell unleashed itself upon Yuuka. She closed her black eyes as the colored spheres of light closed in on her. An explosion of radiant light enveloped me, but it was quickly consumed by the darkness of the lake. In front of me was just blackness as far as the eye could see. Yuuka was gone, gone with the rest of them.

I held no ill will towards any of them, yet I hurt them anyways. I felt no anger towards them, yet I lashed out at them anyways. I pushed them away… yet here I was, floating in a sea of darkness, screaming for them to come back.

My hands went to my head as I continued to scream into the black abyss. I screamed and kicked and thrashed around within the cold depths of the lake, my mind filled with the memory of that nightmare. That woman's nonchalant expression and that man's cruel face during his heinous acts upon me… They tormented me without end, pounding on my soul and making me suffer more than the Burning Hells ever could.

My out of control rage escaped me in the form of a blistering howl that ripped through the dark waters of the Misty Lake. I hoped that my wailing could be heard as far as the Scarlet Mansion. I PRAYED it could be. I wanted the betrayer to hear those screams again, to hear the same screams I made during that dark ritual.

An excruciating pain from my gut pierced through the hellish burning of my heart. I hugged my swelled stomach and wailed louder. The pain was unbearable. I wanted to die. I didn't care anymore. I just wanted to die!

With that woman's face frozen in my mind, my howling ended, the agony no longer paralyzing me. I looked around, seeing only complete darkness. The water's bitter cold nudged through my fiery anger and poked me, forcing me to realize that no one was going to help me. No was going to save me. No one… was going to stop me. I was all alone in this black world.

I looked up towards the surface and took to the sky. With an immense explosion of power, I surfaced from the lake then instantly blasted towards the vampire's mansion, the water beneath me boiling from the heat of my rage.

The dark world around me grew ever darker as my maddening rage seemed to grow without limit. It filled my heart, pouring from it once it was filled and flooding the rest of my body. I hoped that woman could feel the air tremble from the power of the Hakurei. I hoped she knew that I was coming.

Once I get to the Scarlet Devil Mansion, I swear I will find her and when I do… I will kill her.


End file.
